Life Out the Window
by TheFallenNightAngel
Summary: A series of one-shots set after Save Me Now about Arya's life with the Avengers and their crazy lives. These aren't put in any sort of order. Read Save Me Now before reading this to understand it. (I don't own Marvel!)
1. Chapter 1: Waking Up in the Dark

Arya's Point of View:

I sat up in my bed, gasping for breath. I grabbed at the blankets, disorientated for a few minutes. When I calmed down a little bit, tears started flowing down my face. Another nightmare had interrupted my sleep. I occasionally had horrific nightmares that would leave me terrified for hours. I hadn't had one in months until now.

I looked at the clock. It was 1 AM. Usually if I had a nightmare, I went to Steve's room, talked it out with him, and then slept there. Unfortunately, Steve had just gotten back from a long mission at 11 PM. I knew he was extremely tired and wanted sleep so I didn't want to wake him up. Besides, I needed to start dealing with this by myself.

I got out of my bed and got a blanket. I took the elevator up to the living room/kitchen. I made myself a piece of toast and a glass of water. I sat down on the couch with the lights down low. I turned on the TV, making sure that the volume wasn't loud enough to wake up everyone. I put on the music channel and ate my toast while I listened to music. When I was done, I neatly put my plate and glass in the sink. I went back to the couch and curled up on it with my blanket. I didn't hear the footsteps behind me until the person spoke up.

"What are you doing up so late?"

I turned around and saw Clint standing there in full suit with his bow and everything.

"I could ask the same thing of you," I replied, turning off the TV.

"I just got back from my mission so I've got a logical excuse," he said, putting his bow down on the table. "So what's wrong?"

"Couldn't sleep," I said tonelessly.

"Nightmares?"

"Yep."

"Why didn't you wake Steve up?" Clint asked.

"He just got back from a mission like, 2 hours ago. I figured I'd let him sleep," I answered.

Clint came over and sat down next to me. "You know, he signed up for the program as being a dad so that means he's fully qualified to be woken up at outrageous times."

"Yes, but..." I trailed off.

"But what?" Clint prodded.

"I feel like I should be handling it on my own. I'm 14 almost 15. I should be able to handle a stupid nightmare," I said sadly.

"Look kid, it's perfectly normal to have nightmares. Natasha still has them. I still have them. I betcha even Tony still has them," he told me. "You gotta stop beating yourself up over something that's not your fault. Don't be afraid to ask for help." He gave me a hug.

I hugged him back. "Thank you," I murmured. "I'm so used to doing things myself since I spent a good 6 years with my brother fending for myself."

"You don't have to do that anymore. Steve's here for you and so is the rest of us. They don't call us 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' for nothing, you know," he said with a smile.

I gave a laugh. "You've got a point there."

"Plus, I know for a fact that Steve loves being a dad. He said that every part of it is rewarding. You really think he'd mind if you woke him up because you had a nightmare? Heck no. He'd be glad you did. He doesn't want you to suffer alone Arya."

"I suppose so," I said uncertainly.

"What I'm trying to say is, if you need to wake him up, go for it. Don't be scared to ask for comfort," Clint said, standing up. He picked up his bow and stretched. "I'm going to turn in for the night. You feeling better?"

I nodded. "Yes. I'll be okay."

He ruffled my hair as he walked by. "Night kiddo. Nice outfit by the way," he said with a smirk, looking at my standard nighttime wear which consisted of pajama shorts and an oversized t-shirt.

"Night Clint," I said with a smile. I watched him take the elevator to his room.

I waited a few minutes before taking the elevator to Steve's room. I padded down the hall with my blanket. I quietly opened his door and went over to his bed. I sat down on the edge of it.

"Steve?" I whispered.

He immediately opened his eyes and sat up. "What? What's wrong?" he asked frantically.

"Nothing. I just..couldn't sleep," I said softly.

"You had another nightmare?"

"Yes."

"How long have you been awake?"

"About a half an hour or so."

"Why didn't you wake me up sooner?" Steve questioned, reaching over to turn on a light.

"I didn't want to interrupt your sleep," I said.

He examined my face in the light. I knew he could see that my eyes were bloodshot and my cheeks were red from crying.

"Want to talk about it?" he asked me quietly.

I shook my head. "Not exactly."

Getting the message, he turned the light back off and laid down. I pulled my blanket over myself and curled up next to him.

It was silent for a while.

"Thank you," I finally said softly.

"What for?" he replied.

"Everything."

* * *

**Authors Note: And so the one-shot stories begin! I have so many great ideas for these one-shots. If you have any suggestions, please PM them to me. Well, there's some Arya and Clint fluff for y'all. I'm going to have Arya interact more with the Avengers. After all, they're her family. I think Steve seems like a great dad, don't you think? Anyways, tell me what you think of this so far! **


	2. Chapter 2: Coming Back Home

Steve's Point of View:

"It feels so good to be back in DC! I just wish we didn't have to leave tomorrow," Arya said happily.

Arya and I were visiting DC for a week. I had some business to do at Triskelion and Arya had wanted to tag along. As much as she loved New York, Washington DC was her original home. I ended up selling my apartment here in DC since it was more convenient and safer to live at Stark Tower. We still liked to visit once in a while though. Today was our last day in DC.

"Turn left, then right, then keep going straight," Arya read from the Maps app on her phone. She was giving me directions while I was driving. We were trying to find a bookstore because Arya wanted a new book to read. Luckily, SHIELD let me borrow one of their cars for the week. We would've had to walk otherwise.

"The bookstore should be on the next..." she trailed off, distracted by something out the window.

"Next what?" I asked.

She didn't answer. She stared out the window.

I craned my neck to see what she was looking at. I saw a relatively small cemetery. I didn't understand what she was so interested in.

"Arya?"

"Oh, sorry. I just...can you pull over right there?" she said, pointing at a place on the side of the road.

I did as requested and turned off the car. "What's going on?"

Arya opened the car door and got out. "Follow me," she said simply.

I had no choice but to follow her. She walked down the rows of headstones, gazing down at them. She suddenly stopped at a large headstone. She dropped to her knees and looked at it.

I examined it. Then I understood everything. Written on the headstone was: 'William and Jemima Caldwell. La Vie En Rose. Beloved daughter, Arya. Beloved son, Henry."

I knelt down next to Arya. "Are these your parents?" I asked gently.

She nodded silently. "I...I had 'La Vie En Rose' engraved on it because they met when they were dancing. That was the first song they danced to. It was always their favorite song."

I wrapped my arm around her shoulder. "I'm sure they'd be proud of you," I said honestly.

Her eyes watered. "Thank you," she whispered. She reached out and ran her fingers over the carved stone. Her fingers lingered on the 'Beloved daughter, Arya' part. "I should've brought flowers or something."

"We can get some," I told her. "When's the last time you've been here to see them?"

"I can't even remember. Probably a year and a half or so," Arya replied.

She stood up and brushed herself off. She started to walk back to the car. When we got back in, she wiped away a tear that had fallen out. We sat in silence.

"I was in school when I got the call from the police. I was called to the principal's office. An officer was there and she told me that my parents were killed in a car crash. I remember running to the bathroom and crying for such a long time. I-I was so confused and upset over it. The funeral was a few days after that. I had this black dress on that Mom had bought me as a present. My brother didn't want to go so I had a huge fight with him about that. He didn't show up. All of their friends and relatives showed up. Everyone tried to comfort me, but I was so...upset. I fell apart after the funeral. I didn't talk to anyone, I didn't go anywhere, I couldn't function. Then I slowly started to get back to my old self. But I just miss them so much," she choked out.

"I did the same after my parents died," I said quietly.

"There were days where I'd wake up and go downstairs, expecting to hear my mom cooking or my dad saying that he was home," she said.

"I have an idea. How about we go and get some nice flowers for them?" I suggested.

Arya gave me a small, sad smile. "I'd like that. Thank you," she said, wiping her eyes.

* * *

Arya's Point of View: 

I walked up to my parent's grave holding a bunch of beautiful red roses. My mom always loved roses.

Steve had driven to a flower shop and let me choose some flowers to leave for my parents. I was so grateful that he understood this whole thing. When I saw the cemetery as we were driving by, I couldn't focus on anything else. I just had to see my parents again.

Suddenly, I had an idea. I turned to Steve who was walking behind me. "Hold these," I said, handing him the flowers. I fished a piece of paper and a pen out of purse. I furrowed my brow in concentration and began to write. I wrote until I filled up the entire piece of paper. I carefully folded it up and tucked it between the roses. I took the flowers back from Steve. I laid the bouquet down on my parent's grave. I felt tears threatening to fall out again. "I wrote them a note. I hope they read it," I said shakily.

He gave me a smile. "I'm sure they will."

I looked at the grave one last time. "I love you Mom and Dad. I'll never forget you," I said softly before turning away.

* * *

_Dear Mom and Dad, _

_Today I drove by where you were and I couldn't help but stop. I miss you both so much. It's hard to live each day without you by my side. I don't know if you know, but Steve Rogers adopted me a while ago. I met him while I was out for a walk one day. I've had an amazing life with him. He fills the empty gap in my heart. Although, a part of my heart will always be just for you. Steve is a lot like you both. He's doing a great job of raising me so you don't have to be worried. I'm living life to the fullest, just like you said to. I can only hope that you both are proud of me. That's all I want. As much as I want you both back with me, I know you're in a better place now. I know I'll see you again someday. I know you're always watching over me. I love you. _

_Love,_

_Arya_

* * *

**Authors Note: I got a bit choked up while writing this. I don't want to give too much of my personal life away, but I can just say that I based parts of this off of personal experience. Not exactly in the same way, but similar. Anyways, I'm glad you all seem to like the one-shot stories so far! Periwinkle Skittles, sorry for the confusion! They'll all be posted in one story. :) **


	3. Chapter 3: Changing Someone's Life

Arya's Point of View: 

"I'll come by and pick you up in 2 hours, okay?" Steve said.

He was dropping me off at the hospital (not a SHIELD one, just a regular one in New York) to get a check-up on my prosthetics. They were going to do a tune-up on my legs just to make sure everything was functioning properly. They also were going to run me through a couple of physical exercises. It worked out nicely since Steve had a meeting with the other Avengers at SHIELD's headquarters in New York.

"Sounds good! Don't forget," I warned.

"I'd never forget and even if I did, someone would remind me," he said.

"Okay. See ya later," I said, getting out of the car and walking through the automatic doors of the hospital. I waved at him as he left.

* * *

"Try doing a few lunges," the female doctor said, taking notes on her clipboard.

I did as she asked, stretching my arms at the same time.

"Nice. Well, your prosthetics seem to be doing just fine. Any swelling?"

I shook my head. "Nope. Nothing."

"Well, you're good to go. Come back in another few months for another check-up," the doctor said, shaking my hand.

I grabbed my jacket and phone and thanked the doctor. I headed down the hall, past all the doors to the rooms with patients in them. All of them were closed, except for one at the end. I was fiddling with my phone, about to text Steve that I was done when I ran into a small little boy.

"Ouch! I'm sorry," the little boy said with a pout.

"Hey, it's okay. I wasn't looking where I was going," I said with a smile. I noticed that he was wearing a cute little jacket that was colored in to represent the Iron Man suit. The hood even had the helmet. "What's your name? I'm Arya," I asked, stooping down to his level.

"I'm Ryan," he replied, sticking out his hand for me to shake. "Why are you here at this...h...hos..." Ryan said, struggling with the word.

"Hospital? I'm getting a check-up," I said, helping him out. "How old are you Ryan?"

He held up 5 fingers, then he frowned and put down one. "4!" he said proudly. "But I turn 5 in a little bit!"

"Wow, that's great!" I said, smiling at him.

"Wanna know why I'm here?" he asked.

"Sure."

He pointed at his hospital room behind him. "I'm sick. The nurses say I have something called cancer," he said.

In the moment, my heart broke into pieces. "I'm so sorry," I answered.

Ryan shrugged. "Mommy had it too. She's gone now but the nurses say I might not be gone too."

I knew what he meant that his mom was 'gone'.

"What about your dad?"

He shook his head. "Daddy's gone too."

"Who takes care of you?" I asked, confused.

"These women. They take care of a lot of other kids too."

This 4 year old boy was an orphan and lived in an orphanage? I instantly felt sadness for him.

"I've been here a whole year," he said, holding up one figure and tilting his head.

"Wow, that's a long time," I said. "You know what Ryan, I was in the hospital a long time too. I got better though. I bet you will too."

He scuffed his shoe on the laminate floor. Then he perked up, his eyes lighting up. "Wanna see my action figures?"

"I'd love to!"

Ryan took me by the hand and pulled me into his hospital room. He hoisted himself on the bed and pulled out several action figures out of a backpack. I noticed that the backpack had a picture of Iron Man on it. I almost started laughing when I saw that all of his action figures were some version of Iron Man.

"This is my army of Iron Mans!" he said excitedly, waving around an action figure model of Mark 42.

"Wow, that's really cool!" I said, matching his excitement.

"This one is Iron Patriot," Ryan said superiorly, holding out the red, white, and blue action Iron Man suit. "This one is the Hulk Buster. HULK SMASH!" he exclaimed.

"You really like Iron Man, huh?" I asked, smiling.

"Yeah, he's my hero," he said, pretending to fly one of his action figures around.

"Can you name all 6 of the Avengers?"

"Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, and Black Widow," Ryan said, ticking them off on his hand.

"Good job!" I crowed.

"Who's your favorite?" he asked.

"I like all of them, but I think Captain America is my favorite," I said with a mischievous grin. I wasn't supposed to broadcast to the world that I knew the Avengers, but I had an idea. I might have to make an exception to that rule.

"Well Ryan, I have to go, but maybe I'll come back and visit you soon, okay?"

"Okay. Come back and we can play with my Iron Man figures!" he said with enthusiasm.

"I definitely will," I smiled.

I texted Steve, letting him know I was ready to be picked up. I started planning out my idea in my head, knowing exactly how I could make Ryan's day.

* * *

"Hey Tony?"

"What do you want Capsicle Jr.?"

"Um, do you think you could do me a favor?" I said, looking up from the metal parts I was welding together.

Tony put down the screwdriver he was using to make some repairs on one of his suits. "What kind of favor? If it involves Natasha, no. If it involves blowing things up, count me in."

"It's none of those 2 things. I met this little boy at the hospital the other day, and he loves Iron Man. I was wondering if you could maybe come in and visit him?" I asked hesitantly.

"Whoa there, I'm not some circus act," he said.

"I know, but you owe me," I replied.

"For what?"

"Covering up your ass when Pepper almost caught you pulling all those pranks," I said smartly.

He glared at me, debating the options of me tattling on him to Pepper. "Fine, I'll do it. What's his name?"

"Ryan. He's 4 and basically worships the ground you walk on so you should be fine."

"Whatever."

"Yeeeeouuuch!" I screeched. I had accidently scorched my hand with the welder. I let loose a string of profanities in Welsh. Whoops.

"Serves you right, blackmailing me," Tony snickered.

"Shut up."

* * *

"Hey Ryan!" I said, walking into his hospital room.

"Arya!" he said, a smile lighting up his face. "You came back to play with me?" he asked.

"Yes, I did! I brought a friend too, if you don't mind," I said.

"Who?"

"Hey Tony, where'd you go?" I called down the hall, pretending to look for him.

"Here," he said, popping up behind me.

"Look who came to visit you Ryan! Iron Man!" I exclaimed.

Ryan got off his bed, carrying an Iron Man figure. "Mr. Stark?" he said in awe.

"Hey kiddo, how ya doing? Arya here told me that you were a big fan of me," Tony said, stooping down to his level.

He nodded his head really fast. "I am! I am! I am!"

"I see you've got a lot of Iron Man action figures. Which one is your favorite?"

"This one!" Ryan said, holding up the Mark 42 one.

"That's one of my favorites too. You know, I'm building a Mark 43 right now. It's not going to be ready for a few months, but I already have the models done. I thought that you might like a new figure, am I right?" Tony asked.

"Yeah! I need to build up my army of Iron Mans."

"Well, I have an exclusive Mark 43 Iron Man suit action figure that I have to give to someone. If I give it to you, will you take good care of it?"

"Yes! Yes I will Mr. Stark!" Ryan nearly shouted in excitement.

"Then here you go," Tony replied with a smile, handing him the Mark 43 figure.

"Lookie Arya! Look at what Mr. Stark gave me!" he cheered, running over to me to show me.

"That's really nice Ryan. What do you say to Mr. Stark?" I questioned.

"Thank you Mr. Stark," he said.

"Anytime kiddo."

I watched as Tony talked animatedly with Ryan about his Iron Man figures. They acted out fighting scenes with them. I could tell that Ryan was over the moon with meeting his hero.

"Arya! Can you be Iron Patriot?" Ryan pleaded.

"Sure I can," I answered with a smile.

* * *

**1 ****week** **later:**

I went down the hospital hall, ready to see Ryan again. I'd been visiting him nearly every day. I hadn't been able to visit over the weekend since I had dance practice. He was really attached to me, or so the nurses said. Tony was too busy to come back and visit, but he often sent videos to my phone to show Ryan.

I opened Ryan's door and was surprised to see that the room was empty. Confused, I went back out into the hall and stopped a passing nurse.

"Excuse me, but isn't Ryan usually in this room? Was he moved?" I asked.

The nurse's eyes instantly got sad. "No one told you?"

"Told me what?"

"Ryan passed away this weekend. The cancer was just too much for him to handle, he was such a little thing," the nurse told me.

I couldn't respond. My heart dropped down to my feet. Ryan was gone? My little Iron Man buddy? I swiped away a few tears that were leaking out.

"A-at least he's with his mom and dad now," I said shakily.

The nurses nodded sadly.

I reached into my purse and pulled out the new Iron Man action figure I was planning on giving to him. I took a shaky breath.

"Do you think you could display this somewhere? Somewhere where everyone can see it? Put a sign next to it or something saying it was for Ryan." I handed it to the nurse and turned away.

That was the best I could do.

That's it. 

* * *

**Authors Note: This one-shot had a little more of a sadness to it. I actually know a 4 year old who's in love with me (no joke!) and loves Iron Man. I was kind of inspired by that. He made me fly him around like Iron Man. He has tons and tons of those action figures. I combined that with another experience to create this. DanceAlpineRaceRead, it made me tear up too. Thank you for your support! That means a lot to me. **


	4. Chapter 4: Dancing in the Light

Arya's Point of View:

"Class, don't forget to inform your parents about our upcoming dance recital!" my dance instructor chirped cheerily.

I looked down at the flyer in my hand that announced the recital in bold lettering. I sighed, dreading telling my 'family' about this. None of the other Avengers had seen me onstage dancing besides Steve. I wasn't even a soloist when he came to see me, I was just a background dancer. Plus that was a really low key, small recital. Not even a recital really, just a mini performance. The other Avengers were usually preoccupied so I hadn't bothered asking them. I really wanted them all to come and see me perform since I was going to be a main soloist, but I knew that the Avengers needed to not attract too much attention. I didn't want to get all excited about them coming to see me and then find out that they couldn't. I mean, that's total burn.

I folded up the piece of paper and stuck it in the bottom of my backpack. There wasn't really any use in asking. Maybe Steve could come if he wasn't away on a mission.

I headed for home, texting Steve to let him know I was on my way. I had finally convinced him to let me walk home alone this time. I was almost 15 so I figured I was responsible enough. Natasha had taken my side on the argument, saying that it was a learning experience.

I hurried along the sidewalk, wanting to get home before it got too dark. New York could be kind of scary at night if someone wasn't with you. Plus, now that it was fall, it was getting pretty chilly. I gratefully opened the door to Stark Tower and took the elevator up to the living room and kitchen area. When I got out of the elevator, everyone was already seated at the dining table ready to eat dinner. I noticed that we were having shawarma take out for dinner. Probably Tony's doing.

I dumped my backpack on the ground and unraveled my scarf. Then I shrugged off my coat and washed my hands at the kitchen sink. I plopped myself down at my usual spot between Steve and Natasha.

"Hey Arya, how was school today?" Steve asked me.

"Pretty good, I got an A+ on my English paper," I said, reaching for a container of food.

"Nice! Seems like you're doing pretty well," Natasha commented.

"I guess so. My teachers seem to think so," I replied.

"Hey Capsicle Jr., wanna work on Mark 43 with me tonight?" Tony asked, spearing a piece of meat with his fork.

"Sure, but I've got some nasty science questions I need to get through first," I said, making a face at my dinner.

"The Science Bros can help if you want," Bruce offered.

I perked up at that offer. "Thanks! That'd be great. How about we meet in the lab after dinner?"

Tony nodded in agreement before continuing to eat his shawarma.

After I finished dinner, I washed my dishes and put them away. I grabbed my backpack and headed down to Tony's lab. I got out my science textbook and flipped to the right page. I tried to figure it out myself while I was waiting for Bruce and Tony, but damn it was hard! I nearly cried in relief when they finally showed up.

"So, what's the question?" Bruce asked, taking a seat next to me.

"I don't get this stupid scientific formula," I grumbled. "How come science needs math formula anyways?"

In the end, Bruce was able to explain the whole thing really well to me. I understood it a whole lot better than before. Tony wasn't much help, he kept goofing off. No surprise there.

"Are we ready to work on Mark 43?" he asked impatiently over and over again.

"Okay okay," I said, putting away my notebooks in my backpack.

"FINALLY," Tony exclaimed.

"Well I guess we're done here," Bruce said.

"Thanks for helping me," I smiled.

"Anytime," he replied, pulling out his tablet and started tapping notes into it..

"So what part do we need to work on now?" I asked, examining the half completed Iron Man suit.

"Well, the helmet needs to be programmed so JARVIS is hooked up to it. I thought maybe you'd like to do that," Tony said, holding out the helmet to me.

I took it eagerly and put it down on the table to start wiring it up. I used a pair of pliers to separate the wires, being extra careful of where I placed them.

A little while later, Steve, Natasha, Clint, and Pepper came down to the lab to investigate what we were up to.

"Hey guys," I said absentmindedly, focusing on the helmet.

"Did you finish your homework?" Steve asked, all parent-like.

"Yes, I did," I sighed, rolling my eyes.

"Hey Arya, can you draw out some basic blueprints for the chest plate and the arc reactor?" Tony asked, looking up from the part of the suit he was working on.

"Sure," I said. I went over to my backpack to get some graph paper. Unfortunately for me, my pad of graph paper was at the bottom of my bag. I yanked it out with effort. A stray piece of paper came out with the pad. It flew towards Natasha. She picked it up and scanned it.

"There's a dance recital? Are you in it? she asked.

"Yeah, I'm actually a main soloist," I admitted.

"When were you going to tell us that?" Steve questioned, raising his eyebrows.

"When I remembered," I said meekly.

"I'll definitely be there," he told me, handing me back the piece of paper.

"I'd like to go," Pepper piped up. "And Tony would too, right Tony?"

"Hm? Oh yeah, sure," he said quickly.

"I would too," Natasha smiled, elbowing Clint in the ribs and giving him a glare.

"Ouch!" he yelped. "Um, yeah count me in."

"I'm going to have to pass on this one Arya," Bruce said apologetically. "I'm sorry, but I don't want to risk the Hulk coming out and...you know..."

"That's okay Bruce, but the rest of you really don't need to come," I said honestly. "Aren't you not supposed to attract a whole lot of attention? You know, keep a low profile?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean we have to broadcast that we're there. There's such thing as disguises," Natasha said with a wink. "Cap and I once had to disguise ourselves when we were on the run from HYDRA."

"I really need to hear that story," I laughed. "Anyways. Are you really sure you want to come?" I asked uncertainly.

"Stop asking that or I'll change my mind," Clint said jokingly.

"Thank you so much!" I exclaimed, tackling each one of them in a hug.

"Well obviously if my daughter is a dancing soloist, I'm definitely going to bring my friends along to brag to them," Steve said amusingly.

I did a little dance right there out of pure happiness.

* * *

I was literally radiating excitement. Tonight was the night of the recital and all of the Avengers (minus Bruce, but Natasha said she'd record it for him) were in the audience, front row. They all had put on different clothes than their normal attire. Steve had even put on glasses which was hilarious.

I quickly adjusted my costume which consisted of black jeans, a neon green tank top (I was the only dancer who had a neon green tank top since I was the soloist), a black snapback, and my jazz shoes. I slipped a few bobby pins into my hair, making sure the snapback was firmly secured to my head. I tightened the laces on my shoes. I put a thin layer of white powder on my face (standard dance makeup) and a swipe of bright red lipstick on my lips. I finally added a bit of mascara to my eyelashes. Makeup was really important when you did a recital. The makeup under the bright lights of the stage made it easier for the audience to see you.

"Is everyone ready for the opening dance? Places please!" my dance teacher called.

I dashed to my place in center stage. I stared at the curtain that was covering the stage from the audience's view. I took a deep breath and struck my opening pose. When the curtain opened, I was momentarily blinded by the lights. I blinked twice, clearing my eyes. I managed to spot my family in the front row, grinning from ear to ear. Well, Tony and Clint weren't as enthusiastic, but still. When the music came on (You Make Me Feel by Cobra Starship featuring Sabi if you were wondering), my face broke out into a giant smile. I was finally showing them what I loved to do. 

* * *

"You were amazing Arya!" Pepper gushed.

"You were the best dancer there," Natasha told me.

"You might actually have a pretty good future in dancing munchkin," Tony admitted.

"Not bad kid, not bad at all," Clint said with a grin.

"You were absolutely spectacular," Steve praised, smiling at me.

We were all in the limo that Tony's security man Happy was driving.

"Thank you! I'm so glad you guys were able to come," I said happily, taking in all of the compliments.

"I'm still amazed that you can dance like that in prosthetics," Natasha said. "It's so inspiring."

"Here's the video if you want to see," Clint said, holding out someone's phone.

I pressed play and watched myself and my dance troupe onstage. I was one with the music. Every beat was felt in my bones. I loved the opening dance because it had a bit of a hip hop feel to it. I laughed when everyone started cheering in the audience when everyone did back somersaults. My favorite part was when we did a little bit of break dancing and then we did fancy gymnastic moves. I watched the ending where everyone gathered around me and when I put my arms out, they all dropped to the floor. The applause was deafening in the video.

"I guess I did a good job then," I laughed.

"Good job? You did a GREAT job," Steve said, giving me a side hug.

"Thank you so so so much." 

* * *

**Authors Note: I'm so glad you all like this story! A lot of you are saying that you liked my last one-shot but you thought it was sad. That was kind of the angle I was going for. I know, I'm so horrible. Sorryyyyy. Anyways, this one is much more happier! So we've fast forwarded to Arya already being in school. (Freshman year...scary!) I thought it'd be nice for the Avengers to finally see how talented she was in dancing. **


	5. Chapter 5: New Adventures

Arya's Point of View:

I examined my face in the mirror that was hanging on my wall.

"Natasha?" I called.

"What?" she replied, emerging from my closet with a turquoise dress that went down to my knees and was made of some sort of flowing material. It was more of a casual day dress than a fancy nighttime party dress. Natasha was going through my closet to pick out different outfits for me. Steve was gone for the weekend on some mission.

"Where'd you get that? I didn't even know I owned that," I said, confused.

She threw it at me. "It was buried in the back of your closet. You should wear it more often, it suits you. Was that what you wanted to ask me?"

I sighed, tossing the dress on my bed. "Do you think I should get my ears pierced?"

"I don't know, that's your choice. Why?" Natasha asked.

"Do you have yours pierced?"

She tucked her bright red hair behind her ear and showed me her earrings.

"Does it hurt?" I questioned, wanting to honestly know.

Natasha shrugged. "Not the right question to be asking a master assassin."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, did it feel like a pinch or what?"

"It hurts a little bit, but only for a second. Why are you asking?"

I twirled a piece of my hair around my finger. "I kind of wanted to get my ears pierced," I admitted.

"If you want to, go for it," Natasha told me. "Do you think Steve would go for that idea though?"

"I guess so. It's a part of being a teenage girl, isn't it?"

She nodded. "I'll back you up if he doesn't like it."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks Nat."

Almost right on cue, my phone buzzed with a text from Steve.

_Hey Arya, Sam and I are about to head out undercover. Thought I'd send you a message. What are you doing this weekend while I'm gone? Not getting into trouble I hope._

_Be careful! Nothing really. Well, Nat and I might go and get my ears pierced later this weekend..._, I typed back.

_Does Nat think that's a good idea?_

_She's the one who suggested I go for it._

_Okay. You're growing up too fast. Have a good day Arya._

_Thanks, you too, _I replied before putting down my phone.

"How about we go to the mall today and get it done? That way you can surprise him when he gets back," she offered.

"I don't know," I said hesitantly. "Aren't we jumping the gun a little too fast?"

"Absolutely not, I know exactly when the right time is to pull the trigger," she said with a wink.

"Good point," I admitted. "Okay, let's do it. When do you want to go?"

"How about now? Maybe I can get Clint to go with us," Natasha said.

"Sounds good to me."

"On one condition," she said mischievously. She picked up the dress and waved it like a flag. "You wear this."

* * *

Natasha's Point of View:

"How did I get talked into doing this again?" Clint asked, trudging along through the mall besides Arya and I.

"You said you wanted to go to the hunting department to drool over the bows and arrows," I answered. "Arya, stop pulling at your dress hem."

Arya groaned and dropped the hem. "But I look ridiculous! There's a reason why I never wear this. All the dudes will be ogling at me."

"Relax, you've got 2 highly trained agents with you. You'll be fine," I assured her.

She muttered something under her breath that sounded like Welsh.

We stopped at the little store that pierced ears. A cheery looking woman that was probably in her early 20s came over to us.

"And which one of you will be getting your ears pierced today?" she asked with enthusiasm.

"My sister here," I said, propelling Arya forward. "My boyfriend and I decided to take her out to get it done," I said sweetly, gesturing at Clint. We had already decided what our cover story would be before we got to the mall. Arya was my little sister and Clint was my boyfriend. Simple as that.

"Lovely! Right this way," the woman said. "Have a seat in this chair."

Arya followed her and sat down in the chair. She fidgeted nervously with her necklace. "Can I like, hold one of your hands?" she asked Clint and I.

"You'd be happy to do it, wouldn't you?" I said to Clint, glaring at him.

"Fine, but don't crush my hand," he sighed. She latched her hand around his.

Arya closed her eyes, bracing herself for the woman to pierce her ears. When the woman pierced the earrings into her earlobes, Arya spewed out several profanities in Welsh.

"Ffyc! Yr hyn y mae'r uffern ei hun? Mae hynny'n brifo mor ffycin ddrwg! Rwy'n casáu chi Natasha! Dywedasoch na fyddai'n brifo!" she exclaimed angrily.

I didn't understand a word of what she said, but I heard my name in there.

After the woman explained to Arya that she needed to clean the piercings 3 times a day with rubbing alcohol, we left the store, Arya still cursing under her breath.

"You lied to me, that hurt really bad!" Arya whined.

"Your idea of pain is different than mine," I said simply.

"Rydych yn ffycin amhosibl," she muttered.

"I think my hand is broken," Clint complained, shaking it out. "Geez your grip is really strong."

"Well that was interesting," I sighed. Sometimes it felt like I was looking after 2 kids and not one.

* * *

Arya's Point of View:

I stared at my reflection in the giant panoramic windows of Stark Tower. I still couldn't believe I had my ears pierced. My earlobes still stung after the whole thing. I just hoped that no one in that mall could speak Welsh otherwise I'd be in serious trouble.

"_Miss Caldwell, Captain Rogers is on is way up now,_" JARVIS informed me.

I perked up instantly, hurrying to the elevator doors to stand there and welcome him.

"Hey Arya," Steve said, emerging from the elevator with a smile on his face.

"Hi!" I said happily, hugging him. "How'd the mission go?"

"Fine, Sam and I made it out without a scratch. Speaking of that, how did getting your ears pierced go?" he asked, examining my ears.

I blushed, remembering all of the nasty language I had literally yelled. "Um, fine..."

"Fine except that she's got a swearing Welsh mouth," Natasha called, walking by to the kitchen.

"Natasha!" I complained.

Steve sighed, knowing that I probably caused all sorts of trouble while he was gone.

Maybe I did...

Maybe I didn't...

* * *

**Authors Note: I thought this would be a cool one-shot to do. It kind of shows that Arya is growing up a little bit more. When I got my ears pierced, I didn't swear, (though I was close) but I almost passed out. I did get mad at my mom because she said it wouldn't hurt that much. Guest, I already had that kind of one-shot in the works! That one will be posted soon. Thank you all for the reviews, favorites, and follows!**


	6. Chapter 6: Just Friends

Arya's Point of View:

"So, how was your day at school?" Clint asked, looking over at me.

We were all sitting around the dining room table eating dinner.

"It was fine," I said, stabbing pieces of food with my fork.

"How'd dance go?" Steve asked me.

"It was amazing!" I said enthusiastically. "I had a great time. I made a new friend."

"Really? That's nice. It's good that you're making some new friends," Pepper said with a smile.

"Yeah. What's her name?" Steve said.

"His name, not her name," I corrected.

Steve choked on what he was chewing on and started spluttering. Clint's silverware dropped to his plate with a loud clinking noise. Tony's fork froze halfway between his plate and mouth. Bruce nearly knocked over his glass of water.

"What?" I said, confused.

"It's a boy?" Steve asked incredulously.

"What's his name?" Natasha questioned.

"How old is he?" Pepper asked.

"Calm down guys," I sighed. "Yes, it's a boy. His name is Matt and he's 17."

"17?" Tony said suspiciously. "Isn't that a little old?"

"I'm 16 now Tony," I groaned. "I'm not a little kid."

"What does he look like?" Natasha prodded.

"You can find out for yourself when he comes to pick me up tonight," I announced. "We're going out with some friends."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Bruce said, narrowing his eyes.

"Look, he's just a friend. He's in the same dance troupe as me. That's it!" I said, annoyed.

"Okay, we get it. Just be careful, okay?" Steve sighed.

"Yeah kid, we don't want anything happening to you," Clint put in.

"Thanks, but I don't need to be protected," I grumbled, standing up from the table. I got up and left, aggravated that they didn't get it.

* * *

Natasha's Point of View:

"Don't you think you guys overreacted a little bit?" I said from where I was washing the dinner dishes.

"Agreed," Pepper said, nodding in agreement.

"Nat, this is Arya we're talking about," Steve argued. "She's only 16. We don't even know this guy."

"Don't you think she deserves to make some friends? It's not a bad thing to have guy friends, you know," I replied. "Besides, 16 is a perfectly fine age to be going out with friends."

"We're just worried about her," Clint spoke up.

"Yeah," Tony added. "I want to meet this Matt before she goes."

"Tony," Pepper said in a warning tone.

He held his hands up defensively. "I'm not going to scare him off, I just want to make sure he's legit."

"If you guys are like this when she has a guy friend, how are you going to be when she gets a boyfriend?" I said, exasperated.

"Don't even mention that," Steve scowled.

"Arya's growing up and you aren't growing with her," I said simply. "You still want her to be that 14 year old you all knew when we first met her."

That got a round of silence from all of the male participants in this conversation.

"I'm going to have to agree with Natasha on this one," Bruce said softly. "She's growing up."

"If you'll excuse me, I'm going to help her get ready to go out with her friends," I said, drying my hands on a dishcloth.

* * *

Arya's Point of View:

_Hey Matt!_

_Hey Arya._

_When you come by to pick me up, come up to the top floor. My uh, family wants to meet you._

_Sure, no problem. See you in a few minutes._

_Okay._

Steve came into my room. I put my phone down.

"I texted Matt telling him to come up to meet you guys," I said coolly, stuffing my phone in my purse.

He sat on the edge of my bed. "Arya, I'm sorry that I overreacted a bit."

"A bit?" I scoffed. "It was like I announced World War 3 was happening."

"Honestly, I would've dealt with that better," he said with a weak smile.

I sighed, knowing I couldn't stay mad at him. "Apology accepted. But you know I'm not 14 anymore. He's just a friend."

"You're right. I'm sorry Arya. It's just hard because you're growing up so fast," he said nostalgically.

"Hey, I'm still that crazy girl you met on the streets of DC," I joked. I gave him a hug. "Thank you for understanding."

"_Miss Arya, your guest is on their way up the top floor now,_" JARVIS said.

"Thanks JARVIS," I said, slipping on my shoes. "How do I look?" I asked Steve, giving myself a once-over.

"Pretty as always," was his response.

When we got to the top floor, I immediately went over to Matt and smiled at him.

"Thanks for coming up," I said.

"No problem," he responded, grinning at me.

I looked to see who had shown up to terrorize Matt. Steve, Clint, Tony, and Natasha were all standing there. Surprisingly, Natasha was the least intimating looking one.

"So, you're Matt I assume?" Tony asked, clearing his throat.

"Yes sir," he replied politely, sticking out his hand for them all to shake. They all shook his hand in turn.

"I heard that you're in the same dance troupe as Arya," Steve said.

"That's right," Matt said, looking over at me. "We're hoping that we're paired up for the next partner solo dance. Arya here is an extremely talented dancer."

I swatted his arm. "No more than you!"

"So what time will you be home?" Clint asked, giving Matt the evil eye.

"Probably about 10," I answered, giving him a look that said 'relax'.

"Okay, have a good time," Natasha said, smiling at both of us. "He's really cute," she said, leaning in the whisper in my ear.

I felt a blush creep into my cheeks.

"Thank you ma'am," Matt said, putting his hand on my shoulder.

I waved and smiled at them. "See you later."

That went better than expected.

* * *

Steve's Point of View:

"Are you all seriously going to stay up and wait for her?" Pepper sighed.

Tony, Clint, and I were all sitting on the couch in the living room, waiting for Arya to get back home.

"No, we're watching TV," Tony answered, gesturing towards the TV.

"Home and Gardening Television?" she said skeptically before leaving.

Clint looked at his watch. "It's 10:01. She's late."

I looked at the tablet that had the live video feed of the lobby. "Wait, there she is," I said.

Tony and Clint gathered around me to watch Matt bring Arya into the lobby. They exchanged a few words that we couldn't hear. Then he leaned in to give her a hug. She laughed at something he said before waving goodbye.

"At least she made it back," I said in relief.

"Yeah," they both agreed.

We were so absorbed in the relief that she was back, we didn't hear her exit the elevator until she cleared her throat.

"Were you all spying on me?" she asked suspiciously.

"Um, no! Not at all," Clint said.

She snatched the tablet away from me. "Then what's this?"

"Um..."

"Well..."

"You see..."

* * *

**Authors Note: Thank you McKennaSuaveDaughterofPoseidon for PMing me so many great one-shot ideas! This is one of the many ideas she sent me. I will be writing the other ones soon! The next few one-shots will skip ahead to when Arya is older, like 16ish. **


	7. Chapter 7: Mutual Dislike

Arya's Point of View:  
  
"ARYA GET YOUR DOG AWAY FROM MY IRON MAN SUITS," Tony nearly screeched.

"Calm down Tony," I sighed, scooping up Oreo. "It's not like she's going to chew on them."

Oreo barked in agreement.

"Last time you let that thing into my lab, it slobbered all over my work table," he grumbled.

"Oreo's name is not 'that thing'. And that was because you didn't feed it," I tossed back at him.

"That dog has never liked me," Tony said, giving me a pointed look. "In fact, it doesn't like anyone except for you and Steve."

Right then, Natasha came into the lab. "What's going on?"

Oreo wriggled out of my arms and scampered over to her.

"Hey little guy! Is Tony being a smartass?" Natasha said, petting Oreo.

"See Tony? Oreo likes everyone just fine. She doesn't like you because you aren't nice to her," I said smartly.

"Great," he muttered. "Now I've got a sassy 14 year old in my tower."

* * *

"See the ball Oreo? Go fetch!" I said, throwing the bright yellow ball as far as I could.

Oreo sat down on the grass and panted.

"C'mon girl, go get the ball," I encouraged.

Oreo refused to move.

I sighed, plopping down on the park bench next to Clint. Clint and I had gone out to the park to take Oreo for a walk and to maybe teach her some tricks. So far, no luck.

"How's that going?" Clint asked.

"You tell me."

"Well you just got her a couple of weeks ago."

"I know, but Tony's going to have a heart attack if I don't get Oreo potty-trained."

Clint burst into laughter. "That I'd like to see."

"I thought he was going to annihilate me," I groaned. "He was like, 2 steps away from getting out the Iron Man suit."

"And Pepper wasn't there to bail you out?"

"Nah, she left early for work."

"Ouch."

"Yeah."

I heard Oreo bark and turned to look down at her. I saw that the ball was clamped between her jaw.

"Clint, look! She did it!" I exclaimed.

"Hey, look at that. Maybe your head isn't on the chopping block now," he grinned.

I swatted his arm. "Stop it!"

* * *

Tony's Point of View:

"Get it offfffff!" I complained.

Arya's throw pillow AKA dog Oreo was climbing all over me. That dog really doesn't like me. It doesn't like, attack me or anything, I just get the gist that it doesn't enjoy my company. It's in love with Arya and Capsicle of course.

"Someone get this damn dog off of me!" I said before remembering that no one was home. Pepper was still at work. Natasha, Clint, and Bruce went off to get dinner. Steve was picking up Arya from dance. Damn it.

"Looks like I'm stuck with you," I sighed, glaring at Oreo.

The little scoundrel wouldn't stop barking.

"Can you shut up for one minute?" I said, aggravated.

To my surprise, she did. She hopped up on the couch next to me and stared.

"Um, you can stop staring at me. It's kind of creepy having a mini Husky stare at you."

No response.

"Look, I get the feeling that you don't particularly like my company. The feeling is pretty mutual. But can we just get along till Arya gets home?" I said, thinking I must be crazy to talk to a dog.

Oreo stood still for a minute before climbing onto my lap and closing her wide eyes.

Great, so I had the stupid thing sleeping on me now.

* * *

Arya's Point of View:

"Tony, we're home! Oreo, where are you?" I called, exiting the elevator with Steve. "Helloooooo? Anyone home?" That's when I spotted Tony snoozing on the couch with, surprise, Oreo curled up next to him.

"Awwwww," I snickered, whipping out my phone and taking a picture.

"Keep that picture for future blackmail," Steve advised, trying not to laugh.

"You bet I am," I said with an evil laugh.

* * *

**Authors Note: Wow, you guys seemed to really like the one-shot I posted yesterday! Kudos to McKennaSuaveDaughterofPoseidon for that idea. She gave me like, 3 other ideas too so those are in the works. This one-shot was based off of SunnyDay64, who is awesome because she reviewed all of my stories! Thank you! I apologize if this one seems a bit short. I promise future one-shots will be longer.**

**That brings me to another point I want to bring up. If you haven't seen already, I posted a NEW story called Into the Light! I think if you guys liked Save Me Now, you'll like Into the Light. So, go check that out and tell me what you think. Thank you!**


	8. Chapter 8: Always Here For You

Steve's Point of View:

"Do you really think it's a good idea if I tell her?" I sighed, looking at Natasha.

"For the last time Steve, yes. She'd be even more mad if you just left," she reassured me. "Now go on and get it over with."

I'm Captain America and I can't even get the courage to tell my 14 year old daughter certain things. Pathetic, really.

I opened the door to Arya's room. I saw her practicing a dance routine with the music turned up really loud. It was some classical piece. Every time I saw Arya dance, I was in complete awe. I couldn't believe that this girl who had 2 prosthetic legs could dance with such emotion and beauty.

She turned around and saw me standing in the doorway and came to an abrupt stop.

"JARVIS, turn the music off," Arya said. "Hey Steve, whatcha up to?"

"Nothing really," I said nervously.

"I was just practicing for this weekend's recital. We're doing this dance to this song by Zedd called Find You! It's going to be so cool. I can't wait for all of you to see it," Arya exclaimed excitedly.

"Um, about that..."

She cocked her head in confusion. "What about it?"

"As much as I'd love to see it, Fury called me in for a mission," I said, wincing. I hated telling her things like this. Usually she'd get this really sad look on her face. But I knew her reaction would be even more upsetting than usual since recitals were a big deal to her.

"But it's only Monday, you should be home by Saturday," she said.

"That's the problem. Fury said I'd be away till at least Monday. I'm sorry Arya but I have to go. In fact, I leave in a half an hour."

Arya said nothing for a few minutes.

"Everyone else will be able to go. Natasha already said she'd record it for me to watch when I get back," I told her, trying to cheer her up.

"Steve, you know that these recitals are a really important part of my life. They're the one time you get to see me do what I love to do," Arya said, giving me a sad look.

"I know. If I could stay home, I would. But you know what consequences come with being an Avenger."

Her eyes filled with tears. "Sometimes I wish you weren't Captain America," she said softly.

"Arya..." I tried to comfort her.

"Go away. Please," she mumbled.

"I'll see you when I get back on Monday."

She said nothing.

In that moment, I really hated myself. Making Arya upset made me feel awful. But there was nothing I could do about it.

* * *

Clint's Point of View:

"Hey Capsicle Jr., you all ready for tonight?" I asked Arya who was sitting next to me at the dinner table.

She gave a nod in response.

"I bet you'll do a great job," I told her.

"Thanks," she replied quietly.

I shot Natasha look that said: 'what do I do?'.

Arya had been in a state of depression for nearly the entire week. She was obviously and understandably upset that Steve wouldn't be here for her recital.

"Did you reserve the same row for us like you did last time?" Pepper asked.

"Yes," Arya responded.

"Maybe we'll get shawarma afterwards to celebrate," Tony said, trying to lighten the mood.

Arya didn't even smile a little bit.

"Arya, just because Steve isn't here doesn't mean that it's the end of the world," Bruce said to her.

"I know, I just wish he was here," she said.

I put my arm around her. "Cheer up kiddo, you're the only person who's got Earth's Mightiest Heroes in the audience."

She gave a little laugh at that and smiled. "Thanks guys. I better go and get my stuff ready." She stood up and went off to her room.

"I feel sorry for her," Natasha sighed. "You know she told Steve that sometimes she wished he wasn't Captain America."

"Ouch," Tony winced. "That's gotta burn."

"Yeah, but she's got a point," I said. "His job does have an affect on her."

All of a sudden, Natasha's phone buzzed with a new text alert.

* * *

Arya's Point of View:

I stood in the left wing of the stage curtains, peering out at the audience. I couldn't make out any of the Avengers in the front row. I knew that Natasha, Clint, Tony, Pepper, and Bruce were all there though, I knew it. I knew the moment I got onstage and saw that seat that Steve usually occupied was empty, I wouldn't be dancing my best.

"Why the long face?" one of my fellow dancers asked me.

I immediately slapped on a fake smile. "Nothing, just a little nervous."

Everyone got to their places behind the curtain. When the curtain went up, the music started. I let my mind go blank and let the music fill it. I stole a glance to the front row and saw each of the Avengers smiling. My eyes moved down the row, looking at each one of them in turn. I almost stumbled and messed up the choreography when I saw who was sitting there with them. Steve was sitting in his usual seat between Natasha and Tony. He was here! Why though? Oh what the heck, who cares? HE WAS HERE.

I felt a giant smile spread over my face. I danced with more energy than ever before.

When the dance came to an end, we all lined up to take our bows. I crossed one foot in front of the other and took my bow. I was pretty sure Clint was the one whistling really loud. And I was almost definite that Tony was the one yelling "Yeah Arya!". Yes, I had one of those families that were the loudest in the entire audience.

After the standing ovation, I scurried backstage and changed out of my costume. I didn't bother wiping off my makeup. I needed to see Steve!

I pushed through the crowd of people in the dressing room and hurried out to the lobby of the theater. I spotted the Avengers clumped together in a corner.

"Steve!" I exclaimed, running over and hugging him. "How'd you get here? I thought you were on a mission!"

"I was, but I wrapped it up as quickly as I could to get back and see you," he said, hugging me back. "I texted Natasha saying I was on my way and to not tell you. I thought it'd be a nice surprise."

"Yes it was!" I said, on the verge of happy tears. "And I'm sorry, I didn't mean it when I said that I wish you weren't Captain America," I said softly. "I'm glad you are and I wouldn't want it any other way. I was just...mad. It's hard sometimes when you go away."

"I know Arya, I forget sometimes that it's hard on you," Steve told me.

"Okay, can we stop the gushy-ness and go get something to eat?" Tony complained.

"Shut up Tony," I laughed.

* * *

**Authors Note: Wow, I'm really cranking these one-shots out! This is another one of McKennaSuaveDaughterofPoseidon's ideas. (She's full of so many good ideas, it's crazy!) hateme101, I know, it's hilarious that Iron Man can't handle a little puppy! SunnyDay64, I'm glad you liked it. I'm so happy that you like Arya so much, you're rereading the story. I LOVE YOU. UltimateGingeDW, I like your suggestion! I'll write it and post it soon. Thank you all for reading!**

P.S. Has anyone checked out Into the Light yet?  



	9. Chapter 9: Rejection and Revenge

Steve's Point of View:

"Ei fod yn idiot ffycin ac yn fab i ast!" Arya said angrily, slamming her pilot file on the floor.

"What's the matter?" I asked, giving her a concerned look.

"The stupid guy who was testing me for my SHIELD pilot's license is what's the matter," she said, stomping on the file.

"Calm down! What happened?" I questioned, retrieving the file from the floor.

Arya pointed at the stamp that said 'rejected' in the corner of the paper. "So I passed nearly all of the stupid tests they have you do to get your license. I met the age requirements of being 17. I passed the written exams. I flew the actual plane perfectly. I did everything FINE. But when I got to the health evaluation, the guy didn't pass me because I have prosthetic legs!," she said furiously.

"What?" I said in disbelief. "That's ridiculous."

"That's what I said! I said that I was very healthy and I wasn't a special needs person. And you know what he said? He said I was crippled!"

I had a flashback right then back to when I was trying to be recruited in the army and everywhere rejected me. I completely understood what Arya was feeling right now. I told her that in hopes of calming her down a bit.

"I guess it runs in the family," she muttered.

"Don't be so discouraged. I'll talk to Hill about it. Maybe that guy was new and was just a jerk," I pointed out.

Arya sighed and seemed to let all of her anger flow out of her system. "I guess. I guess I was really mad that he said the only reason I didn't pass was because of my legs. I just don't like to be disqualified and called crippled."

"I know Arya," I said. "You're definitely not crippled. You're so incredibly strong and amazing. Trust me on this one."

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Well...okay. But I only believe you because you're Captain America," she said jokingly.

"C'mon you troublemaker. Let's go get this straightened out," I laughed.

* * *

Arya's Point of View:

"We are pleased to be giving out pilot's licenses to the following people..." the head of SHIELD's airbase droned on and on, listing off everyone.

I stood up onstage with a bunch of adults and one or 2 teenagers, waiting to receive our pilot's licenses. The black uniform I was in was extremely uncomfortable. It had the SHIELD logo on both shoulders. I wasn't joining SHIELD, I was just getting my pilot's license from them. That meant I could use their aircrafts if I wanted to take one out for a spin, and that I could potentially fly agents into missions. It wasn't technically working for SHIELD. It was more like offering them my services. Kind of like volunteering almost.

I smirked when I saw who was presenting me with my license. Agent Hill and that dumbass who rejected me from getting my pilot's license to begin with. Steve had pulled a few strings to make sure that would happen.

"Finally, this young lady is extremely accomplished. She has overcome so many hardships with 2 prosthetic legs. She is possible one of the strongest people I have ever known," Hill said.

"I am honored to present Miss Arya Caldwell Rogers with her pilot's license and certificate," the guy said forcefully.

I stepped forward and accepted it. I shook both of their hands and gave the guy an evil look. He shrank back a millimeter. Hill gave me a wink. Steve must've really kicked him in shape.

I raised my hand to wave at Steve, Natasha, and Clint in the audience. They all grinned and waved back.

"Это моя девочка! Вы показать им, как это делается! Докажите, эти ублюдки не так!" Natasha yelled.

I laughed and shook my head. Nothing feels better than proving someone who says you can't do something wrong.

* * *

**Authors Note: Woohoo! Double post today! I thought you guys deserved it because you all have been so awesome. By the way, the Russian translation is: '****That's my girl! You show them how it's done! Prove those bastards wrong!'. I'm not going to translate the Welsh, because there's some serioussss swearing in there. (Arya has quite the vocabulary...) Anyways, I thought this one would be funny to write. Even though it's short, it's really cool to see how persistent Arya is. **


	10. Chapter 10: Being Sick Sucks

Steve's Point of View:

"School was good, I started on a new art project. I'm painting the skyline of New Y-" Arya's sentence was interrupted by a hacking cough. She pulled out a tissue from her pocket and blew her nose. "Sorry," she said sheepishly.

"That cough doesn't sound good," Pepper said, coming over to examine Arya. "You might be coming down with something."

A horrified look spread across Arya's face. "NO! I can't be! I have the science project presentation this week! I can't miss that!"

I scrutinized Arya, noticing that her face was red and that her nose was running. "I don't know kiddo, you might be getting the flu," I told her.

"Nooooooo," she said sadly. "I can't miss school!"

"Now that's the first time I've ever heard a 14 year old say that they don't want to miss school," Clint pointed out, walking by.

"Me too," Natasha said. "That's not a bad thing though."

"But I worked on that project for weeks with Tony and Bruce," Arya fretted.

"We can work something out with your teacher," I reassured her.

She sighed and twisted her face into a funny look. "Fine," she grumbled before going off to her room to do homework.

* * *

Natasha's Point of View:

"Arya, dinner's ready," I said, poking my head through her bedroom door.

No response.

"Arya?" I asked, pushing open the door. The lights were all off and homework sheets were scattered across her desk. Arya was fast asleep in her bed, clutching a pencil in her hand. It was unusual for her to be sleeping at this time of day.

"Arya, wake up," I insisted, shaking her shoulder.

"Hmmppphhh. Whaaaat?" she groaned, sitting up. "Oh. I must have fallen asleep doing homework. Whoops."

"It's dinnertime. Hurry up or Tony will eat your share," I said with a wry smile. Usually that would have her up and running, but she just gave me a tired nod.

"Okay, I'll be up there in a minute," Arya said, rubbing her eyes.

I left her room, heading back up to where everyone else was sitting, ready to eat.

"Is she coming? I'm starving," Tony complained.

"Yes, she is and stop it Tony," I chided, sitting down.

Arya trudged into the room, sitting down in her seat and yawning. "Hey. Sorry I'm late."

"It's fine, we were just starting," Steve said, smiling at her.

I watched Arya out of the corner of my eye. She didn't eat anything off of her plate, she just pushed it around with her fork.

"Hey, you feeling okay?" I asked her, putting my hand on her forehead.

She jerked her head away from me. "I'm fine," she said tersely.

"I don't know, you feel pretty warm to me."

"I'm. Fine."

"Arya, don't be so snippy," Steve told her.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

Clint nudged me. "What's going on?" he whispered in my ear.

"Arya's sick and she doesn't want to admit it," I whispered back.

Clint gave me a knowing nod after I explained.

"Leave me alone guys, I'm perfectly fine," Arya whined. "I'm not going to drop dead or anything."

* * *

Arya's Point of View:

I woke up the next morning and I felt like death. My head was aching, my nose was running like crazy, I was coughing up a lung, my sneezes were so loud, and I had a sore throat that was killer.

"Morning sunshine, how are you feeling?" Steve said, coming into my room all cheery.

I gave him a look that could kill and sneezed in response.

"You're right, you're perfectly fine," he said, quoting me from last night.

"I hate you," I croaked.

"Love you too," he chuckled.

"Shut up."

"I already called your teacher to say you weren't coming into school today," he said.

"Why?! I could've gone!"

"No you couldn't. You're way too sick."

I was about to respond but was cut off by a round of coughing.

Steve gave me the 'I told you so' look.

"Wait, shouldn't you not be getting near me? You could get sick," I said, blowing my nose yet again.

"The super soldier serum keeps me from getting sick," he explained.

"Show off," I muttered.

"Want to go up to the living room and be around everyone?" he offered.

"Won't Tony freak out because I'm basically a walking germ infestation?"

"He might, but he'll be fine because everyone got their flu shots at SHIELD, including him."

"Okay I guess. But can you carry me?" I asked.

Steve scooped me up along with a few blankets without another word.

"Thank you," I said softly, sneezing.

* * *

"Clint, can you pass me the TV remote?" I asked, sticking my hand out.

"Here ya go," he said, passing me it.

I was sitting on the couch with a bunch of blankets. The other Avengers were sitting either on the other chairs or the floor. I think I'd gone through at least 2 tissue boxes in the past hour.

"Why'd you let her touch it?" Tony groaned. "Now it's germy!"

"Chill out Tony," Natasha sighed. "It's not like you're going to come down with the flu instantly."

"She's right," Bruce put in.

"Fine, but do we have to watch Disney movies?"

"Yes, we do because watching Disney movies is a common ritual for when I'm sick," I stated, giving him a smug smile.

"Mary Poppins? Seriously?" Tony said.

"Seriously. I'd sing the song if I could," I coughed. "Besides, this is educational for Steve."

"Right! I get to cross this off my list," he said proudly.

"Besides Tony, I have a job for you," Pepper said sweetly.

"Oh no, I know that look. I'm not doing another one of your shenanigans."

"I want you to go to Arya's school and present her project for her. That way she'll get the credit for it. What's more exciting for those students to hear Tony Stark give a presentation?" Pepper told him, handing him my project binder. "After all, you helped her make it."

"W-whaaaaaaaaat?" Tony spluttered.

"Get going," Pepper said.

"But..."

"Go."

"Peps..."

"I said go Tony."

"...fine."

"Thanks Pepper," I said with a smile.

Maybe being sick and staying home wasn't so bad after all. 

* * *

**Authors Note: Hellooooooo! I had a lot of fun writing up UltimateGingeDW's one-shot idea of Arya getting the flu. I kind of based this on when I get the flu so these are real life reactions guys. Periwinkle Skittles, your review made me laugh so hard. Kenzieann04, I have plans for that idea in the future! Thank you all for the reviews. Y'all are the best!**


	11. Chapter 11: Driving Lessons With Tony

Arya's Point of View:

"You sure this is a good idea Tony?" I asked doubtfully, staring at the car keys in my hand.

"Yeah! It'll be fun," he said.

"Fun. Right," Steve muttered.

I was officially 17 and Tony was taking me out for my first driving lesson. Of course I'd be taking driver's education classes but I figured I'd get the basics down. Steve hadn't let me drive up until now. The minimum age you can drive in New York is 16, but he wanted me to wait until he thought I was old enough. Tony came up with the brilliant idea of teaching me since he was the genius, billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist. When Steve argued that he was perfectly qualified for it, Tony shot back in his face that he was frozen for so many years, he probably didn't even know how to drive a car. Well, that's not 100% true. Steve does know how to drive but sometimes he has some problems with the road rules. Don't tell him that though. Pepper had stepped in and said that it'd be a good bonding experience for me and Tony anyways. But Steve had insisted that he sits in the backseat.

"How hard can it be, right?" I muttered under my breath, getting in the driver's seat.

"You can fly a plane so you should be perfectly fine driving a car," Tony said from the passenger's seat. "Besides, this is an older car so if it gets trashed, no worries."

"Just be careful, okay?" Steve fretted.

"Relax, it's not like we're going far," I said. Tony had driven us to a giant, empty parking lot in New York City. We probably weren't going to be leaving the lot anytime soon.

"Okay, rule number 1: seatbelts are a must!" Tony said. "Rule number 2: no texting while driving. You should be taking notes. There'll be a pop quiz afterwards."

I rolled my eyes. "Just get on with it."

"Put the key in there," he said, pointing to the slot. "Then twist it for ignition."

I did as told.

"Okay, now put the clutch in Drive. D means Drive, R means Reverse, N means...Capsicle, what does N mean?" Tony asked.

"Neutral," Steve sighed.

"Right, Neutral! Okay, right is gas, left is brake. Give the gas pedal a little tap and let's see what happens," Tony encouraged me.

"Uh, okay..." I said warily. I lightly tapped the gas pedal with my foot. The car moved forward a bit. "That wasn't so bad."

"Try pressing down a little bit harder," he instructed.

I did, but I think I pressed down too hard. The car jerked forward and gave us all whiplash.

"Not that hard," Tony groaned, rubbing his neck.

"Sorry," I said sheepishly.

"Try again and try not to snap our necks," Steve said.

"Okay..."

The next hour consisted of me trying to get a feel for the gas pedal and brake. It didn't work out so well...

"Sorry guys," I sighed. "I read online that most people with prosthetic legs find it really hard to drive. Usually if you have one prosthetic, it's not too bad. But 2 prosthetics is really hard."

"Now she tells us," Tony grumbled.

"Shut up Tony," Steve warned.

"No, it's okay. I know this has been kind of a disaster," I admitted. "People with prosthetics usually get cars with hand controls. I wanted to give it a shot though."

"Understandably so," Steve reassured me.

"Can I try just one more time?" I pleaded.

"Fine, but I'm getting out of this damn car," Tony said, opening his door and getting out.

"Well aren't we Mr. Supportive!" I said, glaring at him. I turned the car on and took a deep breath. I can do this. I gently tapped the gas pedal and concentrated on not pushing down too hard.

"Nice...keep it steady," Steve said.

I was driving really slow, but at least I was doing something right.

"Try going a little faster," he suggested.

"You sure that's a good idea?" I muttered. I pushed down a little harder and felt the car go faster. Then a bit faster. The speed slowly went up till it was at 30 miles an hour.

"Good job Arya!" Steve cheered, smiling.

"Now the hard part, stopping," I said, gripping the steering wheel.

"Just ease it down slowly, not abruptly."

"Gotcha Captain." I did as told, slowly bringing down the speed of the car. I held my breath until the car came to a complete stop. Once it stopped, I let my death grip go on the wheel and slumped in my seat. "Did I really just do that?"

Tony came running up to my window. "You did it! How'd you do that?"

"I honestly don't know. Pure luck," I said truthfully.

"Do that again! I wanna see that again!" Tony exclaimed.

"Can you handle another joyride?" I asked Steve.

"I'll manage..." he sighed.

* * *

Steve's Point of View:

"Slow down Arya! This isn't a race!" I said sharply.

"Relax, I'm going below the speed limit," she replied.

It had been a few months since Arya had gotten her license. She insisted that she drove us to SHIELD's headquarters in New York for once. She wasn't a bad driver, I was just reaaaaaaaally nervous.

"Watch out for that car," I pointed out.

"He's like, 5 feet away from us," she said with a sigh.

"You cut that red light way too close!" I groaned.

"It wasn't even changed to yellow!"

"Just slow down, please," I pleaded.

Arya rolled her eyes. "You old people are so ridiculous. Tony doesn't have a problem with my driving."

"That's because he drives like a maniac."

"Whatever."

* * *

**Authors Note: I had so much fun writing this one! This was McKennaSuaveDaughterofPoseidon's idea. I modified it a little bit, but not too much. Sarahdoll165 and UltimateGingeDW, I'll definitely do those ideas! (UltimateGingeDW, the blackout at Stark Tower idea) I'll write those up and post them as soon as I can. Thank you all for the reviews! **


	12. Chapter 12: Happy Birthday Arya

Steve's Point of View:

"Hey Steve?" Arya asked, looking up from packing her backpack. It was Monday morning and Pepper was going to drop Arya off at school.

"What?" I replied, turning my gaze from the morning's newspaper to her.

"Do you know what's happening this Saturday?" she asked, hopeful.

"Do you have another dance recital?" I said, pretending to not know the real answer she was looking for.

Her face immediately fell. "No."

"What then?"

"Nothing," she mumbled, slinging her backpack onto her shoulder. "See you when I get home this afternoon."

"Have a good day at school," I told her, grinning.

"Right," she sighed, getting in the elevator.

The moment the doors closed, I jumped up and went to the lab. Tony, Bruce, Natasha, and Clint were all there waiting. While I pretended to forget Arya's birthday, the team and I were actually planning her a surprise party. This was going to be her first birthday with us so we wanted to make it special.

"Finally, I thought she'd never leave!" Tony said.

"How'd she react when you pretended to forget her birthday?" Natasha asked.

"She was pretty upset," I admitted. "I felt bad that I had to do that."

"But the reaction when she gets this surprise party will cancel out that," Clint pointed out.

"Right, so how's the guest list coming along?" I asked.

"Jane Foster confirmed that she's coming. We're still trying to figure out a way to get a hold of Thor," Bruce said. "You can't exactly call Asgard."

Then Bruce's phone started ringing.

"Hello? Oh hi Jane, we were just talking about you," Bruce said, answering the phone. "Wait, what? You did? Um, great! Yeah, Saturday. Okay, see you then," he said, ending the call. "She somehow got the message to Thor. He's coming."

"Great, the more the merrier," I said, feeling excited for Arya's surprise party. "You guys have to keep the secret though. I've got a feeling that she'll be grilling you guys to see if you know anything."

* * *

Tony's Point of View:

"Hey Tony? You doing anything Saturday?" Arya asked, flipping through pictures on her tablet.

"Well, I might start a new project I was thinking about," I said, lying right through my teeth. Damn, it was hard to keep this secret!

"You sure? Isn't there some sort of holiday or event then?" she prodded, trying to get an answer.

I shook my head. "Nope, none that I can think of."

She gave a huff and stood up. "Fine. I'm going to find Natasha and Clint. Maybe they know."

"You do that kid," I replied.

If only she knew...

* * *

Clint's Point of View:

"I think Arya's really going like her cake," Natasha said as she watched me shoot arrows at the target.

"What'd you end up picking out?" I asked.

"The one that's got her name on it with the dancing shoes," she replied.

"Nice, I think she'll like that," I said.

Natasha suddenly cleared her throat and gave me a death glare that said 'shut up'.

Arya flounced into the room. "Hi guys."

"Hey Arya. What's going on?" Natasha asked casually.

"Oh nothing. I was just wondering if...you know, there was anything going on this Saturday."

Natasha pretended to think and looked at me. "I don't think so. What do you think Clint?"

"Well, I was planning on working on some hand to hand combat with Nat. And maybe I'll check in with Fury to see if there's any missions that need to be done," I answered smoothly.

Arya made a noise of frustration. "Fine then," she muttered, leaving the training room.

"That was a close one," Natasha said once Arya was out of earshot.

* * *

Bruce's Point of View:

"Bruce, what are you doing?" Arya asked, coming into the lab.

"Investigating bacteria," I answered, looking up from my microscope.

"Oh. Anything interesting?"

"Not yet."

"Hey Bruce?"

"What?"

"Are you doing anything on Saturday?" Arya questioned.

Steve had told me that Arya was doing her rounds to everyone, asking them if anything was happening on Saturday. Obviously Natasha and Clint would have no problem with that since they were master assassins. But for me? I had to step more carefully. Fibbing isn't really my forte.

"Not anything that I know of," I said.

"Hmph. That's what everyone else is saying," she commented.

"Oh really? That's strange," I said, trying to look distracted.

"Am I interrupting your work?"

"Just a bit."

"Sorry," Arya said meekly, leaving.

Whew. Dodged that bullet.

* * *

Arya's Point of View:

Well, it's Saturday morning. Happy birthday to me. I'm 15. No one in this damn tower remembered. I was really upset about that. But I wasn't going to be that brat who complained about it.

I rolled out of bed and got changed into my dance outfit. I decided I'd head to the dance studio and practice.

I made a quick stop at the kitchen to get an apple to eat. Steve was already up and back from his morning run.

"Good morning," he said.

"Morning," I replied shortly.

"Where are you off to?"

"The dance studio," I answered, washing my apple off.

"Have a good time," he smiled.

"Thanks," I said, taking the stairs down to the ground floor and not bothering to wait for the elevator.

I stomped as hard as I could on each step to relieve some of my anger. I could tell that this was going to be an awful day.

When I got to the dance studio, I put in some good ol' fashioned tunes and danced. I tried to forget that today was my birthday, but somehow I just couldn't. I admit, I was expecting something out of my family. But then again, maybe I was being a spoiled idiot. They were the Avengers after all.

I danced for a good 2 hours. I went to the bathroom to change into a nice sundress so I wouldn't look all sweaty and gross. I brushed my hair out and sighed at my reflection in the mirror. Maybe I'd go home, get lunch, and then go out to the park with Oreo.

I trudged home, determine to make it through the day. I took the elevator up directly to my room. I dumped my dance bag in my closet. I took the stairs up to the kitchen and living room area. The lights were all off and it was unusually quiet.

"Hello? Anyone here?" I called. This was seriously weird. Usually Tony would be wreaking havoc right about now. "You guys aren't playing a prank on me, are you?"

"SURPRISE!" all of the Avengers plus Jane and Pepper literally yelled, jumping out from nowhere.

I gave a shriek. "What the hell?"

"Happy birthday Arya!" Steve said.

"Yeah, happy birthday munchkin," Tony grinned.

"Happy birthday Lady Arya," Thor exclaimed.

"Wait, you remembered?" I asked, confused and shocked.

"Of course we did! Do you think we're that stupid?" Tony said.

"Um..."

"Tony yes, us no," Natasha said helpfully.

"But you all said you weren't doing anything Saturday!" I protested.

"That was to throw you off our trail," Clint explained. "Reality, we were planning for this."

I ran forward and hugged them all. "You guys are the BEST."

"We need pictures! Everyone line up," Natasha announced. "JARVIS, can you take a picture of all of us?"

"_Yes Miss Romanoff,_" JARVIS replied.

I was sandwiched between Steve and Clint for the picture with everyone else gathered around me.

"Cake time!" Pepper said, steering me towards a table that had a cake with my 'Happy Birthday Arya' and a pair of dance shoes on it. There were 15 candles stuck inside it.

"Make a wish," Clint told me.

"Why does she make a wish?" Thor asked, confused.

"Because when you get a cake on your birthday, you blow out the candles and make a wish," Jane explained to him.

I thought for a second about what I wanted to wish for. I was already so lucky, I couldn't think of anything. Finally, I settled on my wish and blew out the candles.

_I wish that I could continue to have such an amazing life._

"You gotta open your presents now!" Tony said, dragging me over to a mound of gifts. I don't know who was more excited about this surprise party, me or him.

"This one's from me," Clint said proudly, holding out a box.

"Wow, nice wrapping," I commented.

"Um, Nat helped me..."

"That explains the uncanny neatness," I laughed, tearing the wrapping paper off. I saw that he had gotten me a pellet pistol. It was like a real pistol, but it shot pellets instead of bullets. "Whoa, you got this for me? How'd Steve let you?" I said in awe.

"He convinced me that it was purely for self-defense," Steve said, rolling his eyes.

Natasha handed me a box that had a bow on it. "This one is from me."

I opened it up and found that she had gotten me a bunch of new clothes including a new fancy dress. "Thanks Nat! These will be great for school!"

"Consider this a gift from Asgard," Thor told me, giving me a lopsidedly wrapped box.

"He insisted on wrapping it himself," Jane explained.

I tore the wrapping paper off and found myself staring at a piece of old looking paper that appeared to be a map. "What is it...?"

"It is a map of the nine realms," Thor said. "You can see any of the nine realms with this map. It changes with the seasons, day, and time."

"Wow," I breathed, amazed at the map.

"It's not much, but I think you'll like it," Bruce told me, handing me a card.

"Wait, you got a planet named after me?" I said in disbelief. "EPIC."

He nodded. "Yup. It's just a tiny one, but with a good telescope, you should be able to see it. I pulled a few strings with some buddies of mine. Plus, naming planets after people is getting really popular these days."

"I wasn't 100% sure of what to get you, so I hope you like this," Jane said with a smile, handing me her gift.

I opened it and lifted out a device that looked like a GPS. "What does this do?" I asked, fiddling with the buttons.

"It's a GPS that I made but instead of showing directions, it tells you the location of all of the Avengers," she said. "It doesn't give exact locations, but it shows the general country."

"This is definitely going to come in handy," I grinned. I saw that all 6 of the little dots that represented the Avengers were all located in the USA in the general direction of New York.

"I don't know if you'd like this, but I thought you would," Pepper said, placing a gift bag in my lap.

I pulled out a giant book that was all about dancing. "Oh my gosh, I looked at this at the book store but I couldn't get it!" I exclaimed.

"Here you go Capsicle Jr.," Tony said, tossing me a parcel that was wrapped in brown paper and string.

"This looks suspiciously like paper grocery bags," I said. "Is it?"

"Tony!" Pepper chided.

"What can I say? Everyone had used up the wrapping paper," he said defensively.

I untied the string and unfolded the paper. My jaw dropped when I saw that he had gotten me one of those fancy pairs of sunglasses that work like his Iron Man helmet. "You got me this? Are you kidding me?" I nearly shouted.

"I thought it'd be cool for when you're flying those fancy planes," he shrugged.

"Last but not least, my present. Or presents, I should say," Steve said, handing me 2 boxes.

"Which one should I open first?" I asked, weighing them in my hands.

"How about the one in your left hand?" Natasha suggested.

I opened the box and found a small photo album. I opened it and found pictures of my family and I in the past months we'd been together. There was a picture of me dancing in my new prosthetic legs with Tony, Clint and I laughing after we pulled a prank, one of Bruce and I doing a chemistry experiment, Natasha and I in fancy dresses, Thor and I bonding over a box of Pop Tarts, and so many more memories. But the most frequent pictures were ones of Steve and I. There were ones of the moment when we were painting together, in the park with Oreo, dancing together at Tony's party, laughing with each other at some joke, me dancing and him watching me, and so many more.

"T-this is incredible," I said, getting choked up. "How did you take all these pictures?"

"JARVIS and Natasha did most of them," Steve told me, smiling.

I hugged the book to my chest, so happy that everything was all documented in those pictures.

I reached for the other box. It was a small box, fitting perfectly inside the palm of my hand. I opened it and pulled out a long chain with a pendant on it. I examined the pendant closer. I saw that it was a mini metal version of his shield. I realized it was a locket and opened it up. There was a picture of all of the Avengers and me in it.

"I know you like wearing your mother's necklace, but I wanted to get you something that you could always wear and have. I figured I'd get you a necklace with my shield on it. My shield protects me so when I'm not here to protect you, I hope that the necklace will," he said softly.

I slipped the necklace over my head and let it rest next to my mother's necklace. They laid side by side on my neck, like 2 puzzle pieces. I threw my arms around Steve and blinked back a few happy tears.

"Thank you so so so much," I said. "I don't deserve all this."

"You're welcome and of course you deserve it," he replied, hugging me back.

"When can we have cake?" Tony interrupted.

"Shut up Stark," Bruce said.

I turned around and faced them all. "Thank you guys for doing this. This is the best birthday I've ever had. I couldn't ask for anything more."

I spent the rest of my birthday having the best time with my family and friends. We all had a dance off, the cake was amazing, all my presents were incredible, and I was surrounded by people who loved me. Can't get any better than that, huh? 

* * *

**Authors Note: Wow, this is a long one! The ideas for this one-shot just kept flowing and I couldn't stop writing. Whoops. Well, I think you guys like long chapters so whatever! This was Sarahdoll165's idea. Kudos to her! UltimateGingeDW, don't worry, you don't sound snotty. In fact, it's such a compliment that you're so eager for more chapters. I will be updating Into the Light soon. I've just been very busy lately so my writing has been put back further in my agenda. Thank you!**


	13. Chapter 13: The Pains of Homework

Arya's Point of View:

"Hey Bruce, what's a nebula?" I asked, flipping through my science book.

"It's when a giant cloud of gas and dust collapses," Bruce explained, looking up from his tablet.

I frowned. "Isn't that the Big Bang Theory?"

"No, the Big Bang Theory is what created the universe. A nebula is just how we think the solar system was made."

"Science is too confusing," I groaned. "Too many theories, laws, and other stuff."

"It's actually quite interesting once you get past the dry parts," Bruce pointed out.

I made a face. "No, not really."

"You'll see. If you ever do physics, you'll really enjoy that," he told me.

"Meh, whatever. By the way, can you quiz me on these?" I said, handing him a set of flashcards that had the chemical symbol of an element on one side and the element on the other.

"Okay, what's this one?" he asked, holding up a flashcard that said Mg on it.

"Um...magnesium?"

"Good, how about this one?" He held up one that said Fe.

"Iron?"

"Right!"

We went through nearly the entire periodic table of elements. I missed a few of them, but Bruce told me a few tricks to help remember them. Lucky me, huh? I get a real scientist to help me with my elements.

* * *

"Stupid thing," I muttered in frustration, wanting to snap my pencil in half.

"What's going on munchkin?" Tony asked, looking over at me.

"I did this experiment and now I have to write a report on it. But I don't get how I'm supposed to explain it!" I said.

"What's the experiment?"

I pointed to the plastic cup that was on the counter. "I filled the cup with vinegar and salt, threw a couple of really old pennies in there for like, 10 seconds, rinsed them off, and saw how they were all shiny. Then I put them back in the cup for 10 seconds and didn't rinse them and they turned greenish. Theeeeeen I put a bolt in the remaining vinegar and it turned coppery," I said. "I get how I did it, but I don't know how to say it the proper scientific way."

"Well, the vinegar is an acid that reacts with the salt. When it reacts, it strips the penny of the copper oxide which is the stuff that made the penny all gross to begin with," Tony told me. "And then when you put the shiny pennies back in the vinegar, this chemical called malachite formed on it."

I hastily wrote down everything he was saying in my notes. "Okay, but what makes the bolt turn coppery?"

He held the bolt up. "The copper in the vinegar is attracted to the metal of the bolt."

"THANK YOU!" I exclaimed, finally understand it. "You're the best!"

"Of course I am," he said smugly.

"Shut up, you're ruining the moment."

* * *

"Clint?"

"Yeah?"

"You know how you have really good aim?"

"Yeah, why?" he asked me.

"Are you really good at math too? You know, since good aim kind of requires math," I said, holding out my math workbook.

"Well, I don't know about my aim corresponding with math, but I'm not terrible at it. What's the problem?"

I pointed at it. "I'm reviewing Order of Operations which normally I'm really good at, but I can't figure out what I did wrong on this problem."

Clint scanned it. "Ah, I see what you did wrong. You multiplied negative 6 by 9 wrong. It's negative 54, not positive 54."

"Ohhhh, I keep forgetting to do my negatives and positives right!" I groaned.

"A positive and a positive is a positive, a negative and a negative is a positive, and a negative and a positive is negative," he said, handing me back the workbook. "Just remember that and you'll be all set."

"Thanks Clint. By the way, what's 180 times 5...?"

"900," he replied, amused.

* * *

"What is this Midguardian concept of 'homework'?" Thor asked, confused. "Is this something Asgard should be using?"

"Trust me, Asgard doesn't want homework," I said. "It's when schools give out assignments to do at home, hence the name 'homework'."

"Ah, I see," he said. "What kinds of work do you have to do?"

"Well, right now I'm trying to write a fantasy short story. It's not going very well," I said, shaking my head.

"Short stories? I know quite a few stories. Stories about Asgard and the nine realms," Thor told me.

I tilted my head. "I've read some of the Norse mythology stories, but I'm more of a Greek mythology person."

"There was a time where Lady Sif and I went to one of the nine realms..."

Thor went on to tell me dozens of stories about himself and his adventures. Each one was so interesting and exciting.

"...and then we returned home by the bifrost," Thor said, finishing yet another story.

"Wow. All these stories are giving me some ideas for my school assignment. Do you think it'd be okay if I wrote a made up story about you and Sif?" I asked, poising my pencil above a piece of paper.

He nodded. "I would be honored."

"Awesome! Thanks Thor," I said happily, smiling at him.

* * *

"What is this sorcery?" I whined, hitting my head against the table.

"Don't do that," Natasha said. "It's bad for your head. What are you even doing?"

"Psychology," I said, making a face.

"Is that your elective for your freshman year?" she asked.

"Yup. It looked interesting, and it is but it's kind of complicated. Like right now I have to study the functions of people's minds."

Natasha peered over my shoulder at my textbook. "Well, that's kind of fun actually. When you're an agent like me, you have to be able to read people. It's really important for interrogations."

I looked up, interested. "Really?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Interrogations are like a psychological game. You have to be able to find out what they're hiding by what they say. And you have to be able to tell when they're lying or telling the truth."

"So did you have to take psychology courses before SHIELD?"

"No, the Red Room trained us," Natasha said.

"But do you like doing interrogations?" I questioned, curious.

"Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't," she said simply.

"I guess psychology is more in depth than I thought," I admitted.

"It's all about how people's minds work," she told me. "Different people have different ways of thinking. Part of the whole psychological thing is knowing how to decipher their mind."

"Wow," I said, amazed.

"If you ever need help with this, let me know," she said, giving me a wink.

"Thanks Nat," I replied with a smile. 

* * *

"I'm going to fail this test, I know it," I fretted, slamming my history textbook shut.

"Let's be optimistic please," Steve sighed.

"But it's a history test! I never can remember all of these dates and events," I said.

"History, huh? What time period?" he asked.

I opened my book up again and looked. "Uh, 1939 to 1945, the World War 2 era."

"Have you forgotten that I was alive then?"

My jaw dropped open. "That's right! Agh, I should've asked you for help on my history paper. Why didn't you remind me?"

"You didn't ask," he said, grinning.

"Shut up," I replied, rolling my eyes.

"If you want, I'll quiz you on certain points," he offered.

I immediately tossed my textbook to him. "Do it." 

* * *

**Authors Note: I had a lot of fun writing this one! This is for all of us who are back to school. Wouldn't you love to have the Avengers to help you with homework? I thought that it'd be cool if each Avenger helped Arya with a school subject. Sarahdoll165, I'll try to write those, I don't know how successful I'll be at it though. But I promise I'll attempt to write those ideas! UltimateGingeDW, I don't think I'll write that only because Arya doesn't seem like the kind of person who would be suspended. Thank you all so much for the reviews! LOVE YOU GUYS. **


	14. Chapter 14: Safe and Sound

Arya's Point of View:  
  
"_Miss Arya, Agent Romanoff requests your presence in the living room,_" JARVIS said.

"Thanks JARVIS," I replied, getting off my bed.

It had been a boring weekend so far. Steve was away on some last minute mission with Sam. Not that I minded. Tony and I had flight tested Mark 43 this morning. It was EPIC. Tony had refused to let me try it though. He said he wanted to keep his head where it was. True, Steve would've knocked his head off if he found out that I'd used the Iron Man suit.

When I got to the main living floor, I grabbed an apple from the kitchen counter.

"What's up Natasha?" I asked, sitting down on the couch.

She looked at me, a troubled expression on her face. She held up her phone. "I just got a call from Fury. You know how Steve's on his mission?"

I nodded and bit into my apple. "Yeah. Isn't he supposed to be back tonight?"

"Yes, and he's actually already back," Natasha told me.

I perked up. "Really? When's he going to be here?"

"That's the problem," she said. "He was hurt pretty bad on the mission. He's at the New York SHIELD headquarters right now. Sam pulled him out just in time."

I dropped my apple and heard it roll away on the ground. "W-what? Is he okay? Is he going to be okay?"

For once, Natasha looked uncertain. "I'm not sure. Fury told me that I can go and see him."

"What about me?" I asked, crossing my arms. "You seriously can't say that I can't go."

"Fury said it might not be best for you to go..." Natasha started. "But I think you should. C'mon, let's go."

We took the elevator down to the lobby of Stark Tower. We got into Natasha's fancy sport's car and drove off. I was ready to overflow with worry. There had been times where Steve came back from a mission in rough shape, but not as extreme as this. I fiddled with my pendant that had a mini version of his shield on it. When he gave it to me for my birthday, he said that it would keep me safe like his shield keeps him safe. Well, that's not working out so good.

Natasha looked over at me. "He's going to be okay Arya," she said.

I stared out the window and gave a nod.

I'm pretty sure Natasha broke at least 3 different laws driving to SHIELD's headquarters. I guess since she was a SHIELD agent, it didn't matter. When we got there, we got out of the car and headed up to the medical facilities.

"Excuse me Agent Romanoff, but your companion isn't allowed here," a passing agent said in the hallway of the ICU (Intensive Care Unit)

"She's Captain Rogers's daughter. She has every right to be here," Natasha replied, glaring at the agent who immediately backed down.

Hill was waiting for us at the end of the hallway.

"I knew that you were going to bring Arya," she said, giving me a nod.

"How could I not?" Natasha said simply. "How is he? What happened?"

"He's still unconscious. Once he wakes up and he's more stable, we're going to move him to the regular part of the facility. He and Sam were just leaving when he was shot by some guards. Usually it doesn't affect him, but he was shot a lot. Sam managed to fly them both out of there before it got worst," Hill relayed.

"C-can we see him?" I asked, rubbing my pendant absentmindedly.

"You can if you'd like," Hill said to me. "

"I'll go with you," Natasha said, putting her arm around my shoulders.

"Let me know if there's any changes in his condition," Hill said, walking away.

I pushed the door open and inhaled a sharp breath. Steve was out cold in the hospital bed and looked pretty beat up. I sat down in the seat next to the bed and took a shaky breath.

"Hi Steve," I said softly.

Natasha's phone started ringing. She pulled it out and looked at it.

"Sorry Arya, I have to take this call," she said, answering the call and leaving the room.

I sighed. I wasn't exactly comfortable alone in a room with someone who was injured. I was silent for a while, listening to the noises of heart monitors and other machines.

"Well...I don't know if you can hear me," I said awkwardly. "I hope you're okay. I had a fun weekend even though it was kind of boring. Tony and I flight tested Mark 43. Don't worry, I didn't fly it, Tony did. It worked pretty well but there's still a few kinks to work out. I finished all of my homework. Clint helped me a little with the math, but other than that, I did it myself. Anyways."

I kept talking to him, telling him what I did this weekend or just random stories I'd heard. Natasha came back in after 20 minutes or so.

"Arya, we should probably head back home. We can come and visit later," Natasha said.

"Okay," I responded. I turned to Steve. "Look, you need to get better as soon as possible. I can't handle Tony's crazy antics by myself. Plus I want your opinion on my new painting. Please," I said quietly. I reached up and unclasped the shield necklace from around my neck. I reached over and coiled it into his hand. I stood up and went over to Natasha. "Let's go."

Natasha gave me a sad look and nodded.

* * *

Steve's Point of View: 

I groaned in pain and opened my eyes. I was disorientated for a second but then realized that I was probably in a SHIELD medical facility.

"Hey! Look who's awake," I heard Natasha's voice say.

I turned my head and saw Natasha sitting in a chair next to the bed.

"How long have I been out?" I asked, rubbing my forehead.

She shrugged. "A couple of days."

Suddenly, a thought hit me. "How's Arya?"

"She's fine. Worried of course, but fine."

I opened my other hand and found that Arya's shield necklace that I gave her was in my hand.

"Why...?"

"She said that since it was supposed to protect her, then maybe it'd protect you and help you get better," Natasha explained.

"You should give this back to her," I said, holding it out.

"Hold that thought," Nat said, whipping out her phone and typing something into it.

A couple of minutes later, someone burst through the door, out of breath and bright-eyed. "Steve?"

"I think this is yours," I said, smiling.

Arya rushed over and carefully hugged me. "You're awake! So I guess it worked."

"I told you it'd protect you," I told her.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she whispered. "I-I don't know what I would've done if..."

"I know, I'm sorry Arya," I said to her. "You know that with my job it's not easy to guarantee I'll always be okay."

"I'll leave you guys alone to catch up," Natasha said, leaving.

I reached over and slipped the necklace over her head.

"I kind of missed wearing it," Arya admitted. "I almost never take it off."

"That makes me feel better knowing that you don't," I said.

"I guess your shield really does protect more than just you," she said.

* * *

**Authors Note: I was actually in the hospital for a couple of days this week, so that inspired this one-shot. (Don't worry, I'm fine!) I thought I'd go into more about Arya's necklace that Steve gave her. UltimateGingeDW, I swear I tried to write the idea of a blackout at Stark Tower, but it failed horribly. I tried writing it 3 different ways, but it didn't work. I'll try again, but I don't think it's going to work. I'm so sorry! On that note, please send me some more one-shot ideas. Thank you!**


	15. Chapter 15: Letters From Bucky

_Dear Arya,_

_I'm really sorry I haven't been able to visit. I've been so busy with catching up on everything I've missed and everything I've forgotten. I've gone after HYDRA a couple of times to both take them out and to find anything about myself. So far, I've had a lot of luck. I've gotten a lot of my memories back. Not everything, but enough that I remember the important parts._

_Anyways, I knew that you'd probably still be at Stark Tower with Steve, so I decided I'd send a letter there. I'm still keeping a low profile though, so that's why I didn't contact you by email or phone. The address on the envelope isn't permanent. Write a reply (if you want) to this address, and the next time I write you, I'll send a new address._

_I'll hopefully come back and visit sometime. I decided I'd sent you a letter so you wouldn't think I'd forgotten about you completely. I sent Steve a letter too, his should be arriving about the same time as this one. Write me back, okay? Tell me what's going on. I want to get to know you._

_~Bucky_

_P.S. I'm still really sorry about hurting you._

* * *

_Dear Bucky,_

_I'm so happy that you sent me a letter. Thank you so much. It really made me happy. Steve's been going after HYDRA too. They're starting to rebuild SHIELD. Some guy named Coulson is the new director. Fury resigned, which is kind of sad. But he still works with SHIELD. He actually offered me to join SHIELD, but I said no. I don't want to be an agent. Maybe I'll help once in a while. But I just want to be a normal kid for once, you know?_

_Yup, I'm still at Stark Tower. Steve sold his apartment in Washington DC a while ago because the tower is safer. We've been thinking about getting an apartment in Brooklyn though._

_I hope you come back and visit soon. I really want to get to know you too. I've heard a lot of stories from Steve so that makes me even more interested. Well, nothing really interesting has been happening. School has been really nasty. So much homework and all that. Dance is going well. I might get a solo. Everyone else is fine. Tony blew something up while testing Mark 53 (not unusual)._

_Write me back soon. I want to know what you've been up to._

_~Arya_

_P.S. Stop blaming yourself for that. It wasn't you, it was that stupid Asgardian reindeer._

* * *

_Dear Arya,_

_It was great to hear back from you. Right now I'm bouncing around from city to city, just trying to catch up with everything. I'm making my way back to New York soon, so I'll have to stop in and visit._

_You turned down SHIELD? Wow. I'm impressed. It's hard to say no to that guy. I get what you mean though, about being normal._

_Brooklyn, huh? Brooklyn's nice. That's where Steve and I used to live. You probably know that though. So Steve's been telling stories about me? Well, here's a story: the night before I shipped out to England for the army, Steve tried to enroll in the army more times than I could count. He kept making up where he was from, Ohio, New Jersey, etc. It was hilarious._

_School was just as bad in the 1940s as it is now I guess. You're a freshman, right? Geez. That must be tough. Best of luck to you kiddo._

_About the whole hurting you thing..._

_I know you forgive me and all that awesome stuff, but I still feel guilty. I probably always will. You're a great girl and Steve's doing a really great job of raising you. You've got a whole life ahead of you and I feel terrible that I jeopardized that future you have. I'm never not going to be sorry or not blame myself._

_This place I'm staying at smells funny. It might be because there's about 10 cats living here._

_~Bucky_

* * *

_Dear Bucky,_

_You HAVE to come to New York soon. Everyone misses you! Well, Steve and I do._

_Yeah, Brooklyn's pretty nice. I like living at the tower though. I think the apartment would be just for emergencies, like if the tower was attacked. But I kind of doubt it would ever be attacked. -knocks on wood-._

_Haha that's funny! Steve never told me that story (I can probably guess why). Ohio...? That's pretty low. Ohio is so flat._

_Being a freshman is awful but great at the same time. Awful in the sense that there's SO much work and I'm basically at the bottom of the food chain of high school. I've made some nice friends though and my teachers are good. Overall not too bad, but it's still nasty._

_I can kind of understand what you mean, but I still don't want you to feel bad about it. Just know that I'm never going to mad or angry at you about it, alright? You're right, Steve is doing a pretty darn good job of raising me. After all, I haven't burned anything down yet, right? Haha. Just kidding. Hey, I don't have much of a future. Dancers with two prosthetic legs aren't readily accepted places._

_Cats? I love cats. Steal one and bring it back to me. Although I don't think Oreo (my dog) would go for that idea._

_~Arya_

* * *

_Dear Arya,_

_Well, good to know that I'm missed. I'm almost in New York, I should be there in a week or so. I'll let you know when I am._

_Hey, hang in there. High school might seem like it's a hellish nightmare, but once you're out of it, you'll wish you were back. Everything after high school gets more difficult. (Believe me, I know.)_

_Well that's nice of you. I'm glad you aren't. And I'm also glad that Mr. Spangles is keeping you happy. He always seemed like the fatherly type to me. Has he beaten the shit out of any guys that hit on you yet? I hope not because I want a crack at them too._

_Are you kidding me? You've got a huge future ahead of you. So what if you have prosthetics? Have you seen my arm? I mean, c'mon Arya. I bet you $20 that you'll make it in the dance industry big time._

_So you want a cat? Sorry, I don't steal cats. Haha._

_~Bucky_

* * *

_Dear Bucky,_

_Yay! I can't wait! Steve's really excited and so am I. I can't wait to see you._

_The weirdest thing happened the other day. I was in science class and we were talking about ecology. I said: "So are zebras black with white stripes or white with black stripes?" and some dude said: "Both silly, didn't you know that? By the way, you look nice today." I have guys flirting with me over zebras. DO YOU REALIZE WHAT I'M SAYING? ZEBRAS. I told Steve and he got kind of miffed, but no, he didn't 'beat the shit' out of him._

_I think you're gonna owe me $20._

_I like cats. Who doesn't?_

_Sorry this is kind of short. I've got a lot of schoolwork to do and right now Steve is telling me to start studying. -sigh-._

_~Arya_

* * *

_Dear Arya,_

_Guess what? I'm in New York! I just got here last night. Let me know if you guys are still at the tower or whatever. I can practically smell the freedom and patriotic vibes coming off the tower. I'm guessing that's Steve...(just kidding)._

_Guys are flirting with you...over zebras? Am I reading that right? Wow. That's really weird. If they give you any more trouble, let me know and I'll take care of them for you._

_No, you're gonna owe ME $20. I hope you've got your wallet open and ready._

_Can't wait to see you and Steve._

_~Bucky_

* * *

**Authors Note: Hello everyone! I'm SO sorry I haven't been updating as regularly. School has been so crazy and just awful. Anyways, I thought this would be a really cute one-shot. Bucky and Arya writing each other letters! I left it at a bit of a cliffhanger for the next one-shot: Bucky visits the tower to see Arya and Steve. I hope you liked this one-shot. :)**


	16. Chapter 16: Standing Up for Me

Arya's Point of View:

"See you tomorrow," I called to my friends in the hallway of my high school. I pushed open the front door of the school and went down the steps. I sat down on one of the stone walls lining the sidewalks to wait for Steve or one of the other Avengers to pick me up from school. As I watched everyone walk by, I texted Steve to ask where he was.

_Sorry I'm running late. Fury's keeping me in a meeting. I'll have Bucky pick you up, okay?_ he texted.

_It's alright. Sounds good_, I texted back.

Ever since Bucky had come back, he'd been staying at the tower and slipping into my normal routine. When Steve and I got up to go for our morning runs, he'd go with us sometimes. Tony had added an extra chair to the dining room table for him. Steve and I had helped Bucky set up a room in Stark Tower just for him. Steve was obviously ecstatic over having his best friend back. According to him, Bucky was starting to slowly get some of his old personality back. There were times were he'd remember random parts of his past and would sit and stare at a wall for a while. He never had any 'problems' though, like exploding in anger. He was very nice and polite to everyone, but hesitant and careful, like he would hurt someone. He was especially careful around me. I think he was nervous that he'd hurt me again. I kept reassuring him that he wouldn't.

I slipped my phone back into my pocket and waited. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the group of 'popular' sophomore guys. I internally groaned. Even though I was a freshman, they always tried to flirt with me. It gets exhausting. This one guy never gets the hint that I'm not interested. He thinks he's such a hotshot, but he's not. Look, let's lay out some ground rules. I don't flirt. I'm not that girl who turns all gooey when a guy looks at her. I like to be friends with guys. I'm not that girl who needs a boyfriend. Get the picture?

Almost right on cue, the guy walked over to where I was, thinking that he looks all swaggy (who even thought of that word? A swag is actually that evergreen bunch you hang on your front door at Christmas time) but really he looks like an idiot. To me, at least. He sat down next to me and flashed me a smile.

"Hey Arya," he said, sitting closer to me than I'd like.

I edged over a few inches further away from him and forced a smile. "Hey Andrew."

"You did great in gym class today," he said, raising an eyebrow.

My skin was crawling. I could easily read between the lines. When he said that, he really meant that he thought I looked good. Gross. "Thanks," I said flatly, putting my backpack between us.

"So you doing anything this weekend? I'm going to this party. Maybe you want to go with me?" he said with a wink.

"Sorry, I'm busy. Why don't you ask one of those girls over there," I said, gesturing towards the group of popular girls.

"But Arya, you know I'm only interested in you," Andrew fake whined.

"No. I already told you I'm not that kind of girl and I'm not interested," I said, desperately scanning the sidewalks to see if Bucky was here to pick me up yet. I sighed in relief when I saw a flash of light reflect off of a tiny bit of metal. Bucky often wore a long sleeved jacket to hide his metal arm, but his hand was still visible. I stood up and grabbed my backpack. "See you around Andrew," I said, waving to Bucky.

Andrew scoffed and grabbed my arm. "C'mon Arya, just one date?"

I wrenched my arm out of his grip. "Hm let me think...no," I said, annoyed.

Andrew took both of my wrists and pulled me closer to him. I was about to kick him in the kneecaps and where the sun doesn't shine (thank you Natasha) when Bucky came over and pushed Andrew away.

"Hey, I think the girl said she's not interested," he said, glaring at Andrew.

Andrew narrowed his eyes but backed away. After all, who wouldn't be intimidated by a miffed Bucky? "Who are you anyways?" he asked, clearly not happy.

Bucky put his metal arm around my shoulders protectively. "Her dad's best friend, and believe me, we both could take you out in half a second if you don't leave Arya alone," he said.

And this is why I love having the Avengers as my family. It comes with really nice perks.

Andrew seemed to get the hint and slinked back over to his group of friends. He kept looking over his shoulder nervously, like we were going to sneak up on him.

I turned to Bucky and grinned. "Thanks, that guy really wouldn't leave me alone. I think you took care of that," I said.

"Yeah, well, it seemed like he was giving you a hard time," he said. "So how was your day at school?"

"Hm. I guess it was alright," I said, shrugging. We started walking in the direction of the school parking lot. 

* * *

"So how was your day today Arya?" Steve asked me.

Steve, Bucky, and I were all sitting at the dinner table. Everyone else was out for the week. Tony and Pepper were in Malibu rebuilding their mansion, Clint, Natasha, and Bruce were on a mission, and Thor was in Asgard (as usual).

"...it was good," I said carefully, not sure if I should bring up Andrew or not. Steve knew about Andrew, since I'd come home complaining so many days in the year saying that he wouldn't leave me alone. I was pretty sure that Steve was two steps away from knocking the living daylights out of him.

"Well actually, that kid Andrew was being a pain in the ass," Bucky said, taking a sip of water from his glass.

Steve dropped his silverware on his plate. "Again? Seriously Arya, you need to do something about that," Steve said, looking slightly angry.

I waved my fork in the air with a piece of food speared on it. "No need," I said, shaking my head. "Bucky took care of it when he came to pick me up at school."

Steve looked over at Bucky in disbelief. "You did?"

Bucky shrugged. "Yeah, why wouldn't I? He was being a jerk so I stepped in and told him to get lost."

I gave a nod in confirmation. "Yup, he did."

Steve was silent for a moment before letting out a small laugh. "Reminds me of when you used to pull all the bullies off of me in the 1940s," he said.

"Hey, it goes full circle," Bucky said, giving me a lopsided grin.

"Well, thank you," I said appreciatively. "I'll make sure to call you if I have any more trouble."

Bucky laughed and shook his head. "You do that sweetheart." 

* * *

**Authors Note: Wow, everyone seemed to like Bucky in the last chapter! I'm glad you did! I've got a serious attachment to Bucky right now. Like, it can't be healthy. Who cares though, right? Soooo here's more fluffy chapters with Bucky. I can totally see Bucky standing up for Arya (as some of you mentioned that you wanted to see Bucky "beat the crap out of someone"). **


	17. Chapter 17: I Miss You

Bucky's Point of View:

I checked the time on my watch. 7:45 PM. 15 minutes till Steve's scheduled Skype call with Arya. The Avengers were in Europe on some mission for SHIELD, probably saving the world. Normally Pepper would be at the tower to watch Arya, but she was in Los Angeles at the moment, doing business for Stark Industries. So, Steve decided that I'd watch Arya. I didn't really mind, Arya's a great kid and has a good head on her shoulders. Plus I feel obligated to take care of her for Steve. After all, that's what best friends do.

Anyways, the Avengers had been gone for over a month on the mission. Arya was starting to miss Steve like heck. I don't blame her. A month without your dad is a long time. Before Steve left, he decided that Arya would Skype with him every night to keep her from having a meltdown. Up until a few days ago, it'd been working. Bad thing about it is that she can't actually hug him through Skype. I felt bad for her. I'd been doing everything I could to keep her spirits up.

I walked down the hall to her room and poked my head in between the doorway and the door. "You all set?"

She looked up from where she was sitting at her desk in front of the holographic system. She already had Skype set up on the screen. "Yep, all ready," she said, her voice lacking its usual enthusiasm.

I went over and stood behind her chair. We waited for a few more minutes, and then exactly at 8 PM, Steve's video feed popped up on the screen.

"Hey Steve," Arya said, forcing a small smile. "How is everything?"

"_Hey Arya. And Bucky,_" he replied, spotting me standing behind her. "_Everything's fine. Got a nasty hit in the side, but it's already healed. How was school?_"

She fiddled with a lock of her brown hair. "Good. We did some cool experiments in science. Not as cool as Tony's experiments, but still pretty fun."

"_You're not giving Bucky any trouble, are you?_" he asked suspiciously.

I shook my head a grinned. "Nope, she's been perfect."

"_Going to sleep at 11? Getting all your homework done?_" he asked, wanting to make sure.

Arya rolled her eyes. "Yes, I am."

Suddenly Tony was in the background of Steve's video feed. "_Hey munchkin!_" he said, waving. "_You haven't let that dog chew on Mark 43, have you?_"

"No Tony, I haven't," she said, smiling slightly. "I reworked the blueprints for the miniature missiles in the shoulder plates though."

"_Great! When I get back, we'll start working on that,_" he said before going off camera.

There was a bit of silence for a few moments.

"Steve, when are you coming home?" Arya finally asked.

He let out a sigh. "_I don't know Arya, I really don't know. Hopefully soon._"

"Ah, okay," she said softly, looking down.

I put my hand on her shoulder, trying to comfort her in some way. Arya wasn't one for getting mad or throwing tantrums. When she was upset, she got really quiet and didn't say anything.

"Hey, why don't you go and get something to eat, you didn't really have much for dinner," I said. "I'm just gonna talk to Steve for a few minutes."

Arya nodded. She stood up and left the room.

I turned my focus back to the screen. "Steve, you gotta get back here soon," I said outright. "Arya's so depressed, she's been moping around for days. She needs you back."

He frowned and shook his head. "_You don't think I don't know that? I'm trying to finish this mission up, but it's not that easy,_" he said. "_Natasha suggested to just bail out and come back but I can't._"

"I know, I know," I said, sighing. "Just...try to get back soon and in one piece, okay?"

"_I'm trying Bucky, I really am._"

* * *

**Authors Note: Hello again! I just realized that this one is rather short, not even hitting 700 words. Plus it's kind of sad. I have a legitimate excuse though! I have 2 really good ideas for one-shots that I'm working on now. This one was kind of a filler to keep you guys entertained. I'm really sorry I haven't updated Into the Light. My Adalina muse hasn't be cooperating lately. -sigh-**


	18. Chapter 18: Tony to the Rescue (Sort of)

Arya's Point of View: 

"On your left Stark," I said through the comm system.

Tony turned and blew the Centipede soldier to smithereens. "Thanks munchkin," he said, taking off into the air again.

"Steve, you've got 3 soldiers coming at you from the northwest stairwell," I said, typing in a few commands to the computer in front of me. All of the locks in the building were electronic, making it easy for me to hack into them. I locked the stairwell door before the agents could get to it, giving Steve a couple of seconds.

"Got it," Steve replied, picking up his shield from where it had dropped on the floor.

Tony and Steve were on a mission for SHIELD. The new Director, Phil Coulson, had called them in for a few favors. Apparently his team had encountered this organization called Centipede before. They thought they had taken out a majority of their operational bases, but Coulson discovered that a large base was still active. He asked Tony and Steve to do it, because it was basically a suicide mission for anyone else. Normal guns and slaps in the face wouldn't take down this base. The two main goals for this mission were to get a vial of their super serum and to burn down their base. Everyone else, including Pepper, was in Washington DC for other Avengers business. Since I was only 14, I couldn't go on the mission. Instead, I was safe in Stark Tower, giving them patterns and strays. I had a direct comm link to Tony's Iron Man suit and to Steve's comm.

"Heading to the lab now, what am I looking for?" Tony asked, flying his brand new Mark 43 suit around the outside of the building to the top floor.

"The serum should be orange and in these centipede-looking holders," I said, sending him a picture of it through JARVIS.

"Why orange? If I was the one making the serum, I'd make it rainbow," he said sarcastically, adding some humor to the situation.

"Just shut up, get the damn thing, and get out of there," I sighed.

"Arya, no swearing," Steve chided, slamming his shield into the face of the 3 soldiers.

I looked at the computer, frowning slightly as the heat signature scan was picking up more heat. I hacked into the security cameras in the room and managed to get a look at what was in there. "Guys, heads up. There's a room right next to the lab that's got a lot of heat radiating off of it. It must be the room where they inject the serums into people. There's about 15 people in there. They're still asleep though. Be careful what you touch in there Tony, you don't want to set them off."

"Yeah, we wouldn't want that happening," Tony muttered, landing in the lab.

"Steve, plant the explosives. You've got 15 minutes before backup gets there," I said, listening to the radio signals.

"On it," he said, running through the halls of the building, sticking explosives everywhere. "Want me to give the okay or do you want to?"

I was the one who had the control to trigger the explosives. "I'll give the okay. Knowing you, you'd tell me to do it while you were still in the building."

"Fair enough," he said, slightly amused.

I looked up when I heard JARVIS tell me that someone or something was trying to override his security protocols. "Houston, we have a problem," I said, quickly tracing the signal. "Someone's trying to break into the tower."

"What? Who?" Steve asked, immediately worried.

"Hang on..." I said, doing a face trace. "Shit," I mumbled, seeing who it was. "It's a Centipede soldier. They must've known we were attacking their base. What do I do?" I said, panicking slightly.

"I've got the serum. Tell JARVIS to put the building on emergency protocol 6 and to put the tower on lockdown," Tony said. "That should keep them out until we can get there. Don't leave the tower."

"He's right Arya," Steve said. "Just stay put and we'll be there soon."

I took a deep breath and remained as calm as I could. "I'll set off the explosives when you get out," I said in a shaky voice.

"You ready Capsicle?" Tony asked, flying around the building to the entrance.

Steve ran out of the building to where Tony was waiting. Tony grabbed his arm and took off, heading in the direction of the city again. "We'll be there in 10 minutes, maximum."

I tapped a few keys on the computer and rows and rows of squares saying: 'Explosive status: offline' popped up. I typed in a code and all of the squares changed to say: "Explosive status: online'. I watched through the security cameras as the building exploded. "Operation Fall Out Boy done," I said over the comm. I'd named the mission Operation Fall Out Boy because Tony kept saying "light 'em up" when we were planning. So, the name stuck.

"Good job kid, we're almost there," Tony said.

"_Miss Arya, emergency protocol 6 is being overridden,_" JARVIS said in an annoyingly calm voice.

"Uh guys, JARVIS just s-" I couldn't finish my sentence, because right at that moment, a group of 5 Centipede soldiers stormed through the stairwell door.

* * *

Tony's Point of View: 

"Arya? What's happening?" I asked, as her comm system had disconnected. "Damn. Something's wrong," I said to Steve, who was hanging from the arm of the Iron Man suit.

"Wait, what?" he said loudly to be heard over the wind in disbelief. "What's wrong?"

"Arya's comm system went off the grid. The bastards probably got past the emergency protocol," I said, flying as fast as I could.

Steve said nothing, but that might've been because it gets a little difficult to talk when you're flying at breakneck speed.

"_Sir, I'm afraid Miss Arya is missing from the tower,_" JARVIS said.

"Where the hell did she go?" I exclaimed, getting seriously worried. "Did those morons take her?"

"_Not exactly, sir, I believe she's falling from the top floor. The Centipede soldiers threw her out the window._"

"WHAT?" I nearly screeched. We were getting closer to Stark Tower by the second. I looked up and sure enough, I saw a small form falling from the top floor. "Steve, that's Arya!"

I thought Steve was going to pass out from anxiety.

"Can't you save her?" he yelled, flailing around.

I made a split second decision. "Sorry Steve," I said, letting go of his arm and dropping him. I was probably going to get punched for that later. But if this worked, it wouldn't matter. "JARVIS, eject," I said. The suit ejected me, making me freefall in the air next to Steve. "JARVIS, put the suit on Arya, NOW."

After a few moments of falling, Steve and I landed on the rooftop of some building. Steve groaned and rubbed his head. "You could've given me some sort of warning," he sighed.

"There wasn't any time," I said, watching as the suit kept flying towards Arya who was getting closer and closer to the ground. I saw the suit assemble itself around her and stay still in midair. I let out a sigh of relief. "Just in time."

"How did you do that? I thought the suits were coded only for you," Steve asked, looking relieved as well.

"That was before Arya came to live in the tower. I coded Mark 43 so she could work it too, just in case of emergency," I said, standing up. "JARVIS, fly the suit back over to us."

"Thank you Tony," Steve said, glancing at me. "I-I owe you one."

Mark 43 landed on the roof in front of us. It opened up and deposited Arya onto the floor. There were cuts from the window glass on her arms and face, but she looked otherwise unharmed. "Hey, you okay kiddo?"

She slowly stood up, looking scared as shit. "Yeah," she said, her voice wobbly. "That...was terrifying."

"Damn Centipede," Steve said, going over and hugging her. "This is why I don't like you working on missions."

Arya was breathing heavily, obviously still shaken up. "The suit saved me," she said, almost in awe.

"Yeah. I guess that's one point towards my level of genius-ness," I said, grinning at her.

She untangled herself from Steve and hugged me, which slightly surprised me. She knew I wasn't really the hugging type.

"Thank you," she said softly.

I sighed. "You're welcome Capsicle Jr."

* * *

**Authors Note: WOOHOO! Another chapter for you guys! This one is one of my favorite one-shots. I was inspired by that scene in Iron Man 3 with the House Party Protocol and how Tony ejects himself from the suits. There's a couple of other little hints from the other Iron Man movies. Let's see if anyone can find them...(Hint: Iron Man 2.) If you didn't notice, the whole Centipede thing is from Agents of SHIELD. -dramatic drumroll- I'll be writing Coulson's team into the next one-shot!**

I don't know if you guys have noticed, but I feel that my writing is getting a lot better. I'm not 100% sure why, but I think it might have to do with the fact that I've been roleplaying on tumblr and other places. It really helps me write more descriptively and whatnot. I don't know if I'm just making this up, but tell me what you guys think. :)  



	19. Chapter 19: Coulson's Team (Part One)

Arya's Point of View: 

"Hey, I'm only gonna be gone for the day. You'll be in good hands," Steve said to me as we walked through the Playground AKA SHIELD's newest base. "Coulson and his team are great."

"I thought Coulson was going to stroke from excitement when you asked him," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, well that's the perk of having the Director of SHIELD be a huge fan of you," he said. "He's willing to watch you if no one's around."

The Avengers were going on a mission today with Rhodey, Bucky, and Sam. It was a huge mission that Coulson and Fury had put together. Pepper was in Malibu, busy redoing her and Tony's mansion. Normally she'd be able to fly back to watch me, but she had some press conferences in the next few days. So, Steve had called Director Coulson to ask him if I could hang around at the Playground for the day. Since Coulson was a die-hard Captain America fan, he'd obviously said yes. After all, who wouldn't want to watch Captain America's daughter for a day? Plus I'd always wanted to meet his team. I'd heard a lot about them and they seemed cool.

"Captain Rogers?" I heard a voice say. I looked at the end of the hall and saw the one and only Agent Melinda May. My jaw almost dropped. Natasha had talked about her before (she had her on speed-dial) and I'd heard a lot of stories about the Cavalry.

"Agent May," Steve said with a nod.

"Is this her?" she asked, glancing at me.

I took a step forward and stuck my hand out. "Arya Caldwell Rogers," I said, introducing myself.

"Nice to meet you," she said, shaking my hand. "Don't worry, she'll be in good hands," she said to Steve. She led us down the hall to what apparently was Director Coulson's office.

Coulson was sitting at his desk, looking through paperwork. He looked up when we walked through the door and immediately perked up. "Captain Rogers!" he said, standing up.

"Director Coulson," he said, smiling slightly. He knew how much Coulson looked up to him. "Here she is. Hope you can handle her."

I turned and made a face at Steve. "Director Coulson, a privilege to finally meet you," I said politely. "I've heard a lot about you from the team."

"Please, no need for the Director part. Just Coulson would be fine," he said. "I'm pretty sure my team and I are fully equipped."

Steve gave me a quick hug. "Have fun Arya, I'll be back soon," he said before leaving.

"I'll introduce you to my team," he said, gesturing for me to follow him. We walked down the hallway. "The whole team's been excited about you visiting. We don't get too many visitors."

I glanced around, looking at all the activity with interest. "So this is the Playground," I said. "It's bigger than I expected."

Coulson gave a small smile. "That's the reaction we get from a lot of people." He led me down another hall and into what looked like a common room of sorts.

I spotted a group of people lounging around, talking with each other.

"Go on in. Ask them to show you around," he said just as his comm started bleeping. He gave me an apologetic look before returning to his office.

* * *

"Do you know the Bus's real name?" Melinda May asked me as she showed me around the Bus, the team's giant plane.

"The SHIELD Globemaster, formally known as the CXD 23 Airborne Mobile Command Station. It's officially listed as SHIELD 6-1-6," I said, rattling off the facts.

"And you know it's a-"

"Boeing C-17 Globemaster III military transport aircraft."

"And that it has-"

"Six Pratt and Whitney F117-PW-100 turbofan pivoting engines, making it able to take off and land vertically."

"The interrogation room-"

"Has walls made of silicon carbide-coated Vibranium alloy. Did you get that stuff from Stark?"

May turned her gaze to me, looking slightly impressed. "You certainly know your aircraft trivia."

I shrugged. "It's cool stuff," I said simply.

"Tell you what, if we get the chance, I'll take you up for a spin," she said, giving me a minuscule smile.

* * *

"And this is the lab where Fitz and I do a majority of our work," Jemma Simmons said, gesturing to it. Leo Fitz lingered behind her. He hadn't talked much since I had gotten here. Steve had told me before we came that Fitz had some brain damage from when one of Coulson's EX agents, Grant Ward, had dropped Fitz and Simmons in a compartment into the ocean. They had made a mask, but only one of them could wear it. Simmons ended up being the one to wear it, pulling Fitz up to the surface. Unfortunately, anyone knows that rising to the surface too fast is bad news. Apparently Fitz was getting much better, which was good news. He still had some problems formulating words, but that wasn't as bad now.

"I'm not really a science kind of person," I admitted.

"That's alright! Not everyone loves biochemistry," Simmons said in her bright British accent. "You like to make things though, right? Fitz does too."

A man (I think he said his name was Mack) popped his head in through the door of the lab. "Simmons, we need you for a second," he said, acknowledging Fitz and I with a nod.

"I'll be right back. You and Fitz can get acquainted," she said, following Mack out of the lab.

Fitz was sitting at one of the tables, flicking through something on his tablet.

"So...I hear that you're into engineering," I said, peering over his shoulder.

"Uh, yeah," he said. "I'm working on these...these..."

I looked closer at the tablet. "Are those drones?"

"Drones," Fitz said, nodding. "There's a set of seven drones. Simmons and I named them after the...that...that story...with...Snow...Snow White."

"The seven dwarves?"

"That's it. We call them the DWARF drones. Short for Drones Wirelessly Automated to Retrieve Forensics. Each one is named after a dwarf," he said.

"What exactly do they do?" I asked, curious.

"They can scan and analyze..." he said, struggling to find the words.

I quickly scanned the tablet, looking at the description. "Evidence at certain places?" I said helpfully.

"Exactly," he said, giving me a grateful smile. "I'm trying to...recalibrate the...the..."

"Scanning mechanisms?" I said, pointing to a model on the tablet.

"Yeah, that. You know...it's like you're reading my mind. It's a nice...nice...change," he said. "You...understand the...the...engineering."

I gave him a smile and nodded. "That's what you get for working with Tony Stark," I said.

* * *

"This is an ICER, short for Incapacitating Cartridge Emitting Rifle," Skye told me, handing me the gun.

"Ten bucks says you can't hit that target 3 times in a row," Lance Hunter said, gesturing towards the target range.

The two agents had been showing me the impressive stock of weapons and training facilities the Playground had.

"Hey, lay off," Skye said to Hunter, rolling her eyes. "You've obviously never seen the video of her jumping out of a plane and knocking out someone."

I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly. Even though that was my "defining moment", I didn't really talking about it. Bucky was one of my best friends now.

Hunter was still skeptical. "Yeah, but she wasn't actually shooting," he said.

Before Skye could say anything, I cleared my throat and raised my hand a little. "Excuse me, but you forget that I live in Stark Tower. With the Avengers. Natasha Romanoff taught me how to shoot a gun."

"By all means, show us what you've got," he drawled, taking me by the shoulders and steering me towards the target range.

"Here," Skye said, holding out a pair of safety glasses and gloves to me.

I shook my head. "I don't need it. Natasha didn't train me like that." I stood in front of the target and held the ICER gun in my hand. It felt different than the other guns I'd held before, but that didn't matter. I raised the gunpoint to the target and shot 3 rounds. I tossed the now empty ICER to Hunter and flashed Skye a smile. All three rounds had hit the center.

* * *

**Authors Note: I'm so in love with this one-shot. I had so much fun writing it! By the way, all of the information on the Bus and whatnot I researched and found on a bunch of wikias. So kudos to those people writing that information. This takes place after the actual show Agents of SHIELD, so Coulson is the director of SHIELD, their main base is the Playground, etc. Best part is...THIS IS ONLY PART ONE! The next one-shot will be part 2!**


	20. Chapter 20: Coulson's Team (Part Two)

Arya's Point of View: 

"So any plans to go to the SHIELD Academy or anything?" Skye asked me.

Skye, May, and I were all sitting in the common room of the Playground.

"No, I don't really want to," I said, shaking my head. "I want to go to a regular school and do something normal. As much as I like SHIELD and I'll help, I'm not going to sign myself over. Not yet, at least."

"That's understandable. You're only 14 so you've got plenty of time to figure out what you want to do," May said.

I was about to respond when alarms started going off. Hunter burst through the door, breathing heavily as if he had been running. "We're being attacked by HYDRA. Our security perimeters are holding, but if they find out we're here, we're done for."

Coulson appeared behind him. "We're leaving now. May, get the Bus ready for takeoff. Skye, I need you to copy all our files and systems onto a hard drive and wipe everything clean." He glanced at me, as if just remembering that I was there. "And take Arya with you. Get her onto the Bus. We're leaving in 15 minutes, tops." He turned and hurried down the hall with May following him.

I'd been through HYDRA attacks, random terrorist attacks, and even Centipede attacks, so I knew to follow his orders and not get in the way. It was still scary as heck though.

Skye quickly got out her computer and stuck a hard drive into the side. She tapped a few commands into the keyboard and then unplugged the hard drive. "All set, c'mon," she said, taking my arm and pulling me down the hallway to the airplane hangar. She ushered me up through the cargo hold and into the Bus. She lead me over to the passenger area. "Stay here. I'll be right back," she said, scurrying off to help Fitz and Simmons with something.

I sat down in one of the chairs and nervously fiddled with my phone. I didn't turn it on, knowing that people could track it. Besides, I couldn't text any of the Avengers since they were on their mission. I watched out the window as May got the plane up in the air and out of the Playground. I looked up as Coulson came over to me.

"I'm sorry for having to uproot you so quickly," he said. "They won't be able to get into the Playground, but it's safer if we're up in the air."

"That's alright, it's kind of exciting," I said, watching as the Bus's retro-reflection panels turn on.

"We've already informed Captain Rogers of the situation. We told him you were safe. Hopefully we'll be back before he's done," Coulson said. "If you need anything, just ask." He walked towards the cockpit to talk with May.

I sat there in silence for a few minutes before Skye came over to me.

"Hey, you okay?" she asked, sitting down across from me. "This must be pretty weird for you."

"Not really, to be honest. Living with the Avengers made used to emergencies," I said, shrugging.

"Good point," she admitted. "Well...want to play Scrabble?" she asked me. "Sorry, I don't really know what kids your age like to do," she said awkwardly.

"Sure, I love Scrabble. I play it all the time with Thor," I said, laughing.

"With Thor? Seriously?" she said, her eyes wide. She set up the board and the letters.

"Yeah, it's kind of funny," I said with a smile, remembering all the times they had played the game together.

The two of us played several rounds of Scrabble and exchanged funny stories. Hunter and Simmons joined us when we were on our 4th round. I didn't even notice that it was dark out or that we'd been in the air for quite a long time now until Coulson came over to us.

"Sorry to interrupt, but this is important," he said. "The Playground's still under heavy watch by HYDRA. We can't land for a while. Captain Rogers is on his way back from his mission, but he won't be back till tomorrow morning."

I frowned slightly. "So what does that mean?" I asked.

"We'll keep you onboard overnight. Skye can set up a room for you and in the morning we'll meet the team's quinjet in midair, which can take you back to the tower," he told me.

"Alright, that's fine with me," I said, nodding. "As long as you don't mind. I don't want to be in the way," I said quickly.

"Of course we don't mind. We haven't had new company in months," Simmons piped up, giving me a warm smile.

"Yeah, it's been a while since we've had a midget around," Hunter said, smirking slightly.

I laughed, feeling almost at home. Tony always called me a munchkin, so being called a midget was familiar. "Thanks guys," I said gratefully.

Skye led me over to the small bunks where everyone slept. She showed me an empty one, in fact, the only empty one. "This is where we usually put our guests, if we have any. All yours," she said, smiling. She went to her bunk that was right next to mine and tossed me one of her shirts and a pair of pajama pants. "Here, you can sleep in these. They might be a little big."

"Thank you," I said, yet again. I gave Skye a smile. She was really nice and funny. Her personality was a lot like mine.

"No problem. Hey, if you need anything, just call, okay?" she said, flashing me a grin. She turned and walked back to where everyone was.

I changed into the clothes she had given me and flopped down on the small bed. I looked out the window and sighed. As much as I was having fun with Coulson's team, I missed Steve and everyone else. I found it hard to fall asleep, as I wasn't used to sleeping on a plane. Eventually though, I drifted off. I was woken up a few hours later by someone knocking on the door. I sat up and groggily rubbed my eyes. "Yeah?" I said, yawning.

Hunter popped his head in through the door. "Hope you're decent," he said, not bothering to cover his eyes though. "Steve's gonna be here in a few minutes."

I scowled for a moment at his comment. "Of course I'm decent," I said, gesturing towards Skye's clothes that I was borrowing. I immediately stood up and threw my pillow at him. "Get out so I can get dressed," I said, eager to see Steve.

He caught the pillow and tossed it back at me. "Geez, why are you girls so grouchy in the morning?" he complained, leaving.

I quickly got dressed into my regular clothes and folded up the shirt and pajama pants, leaving them on the bed. I hurried out to the passenger area. My eyes lit up with happiness as I saw a tired-looking but otherwise alright Steve. I ran over to him and threw my arms around him. "Hey!" I said excitedly.

He smiled and hugged me. "Hey Arya. Good to see you kiddo," he said, ruffling my hair. "Sorry about this craziness," he sighed.

"It's alright," I said, shaking my head. "It was fun." I turned towards Coulson and his team. "Thanks for dealing with me."

Coulson smiled and held his hand out for me to shake it. "It was our pleasure. Anytime you want to visit, just let us know."

I shook his hand and nodded. "I might take you up on that offer," I said.

"Let's get you home," Steve said, putting his arm around my shoulders. 

* * *

**Authors Note: -sigh- So many late updates. I've been over my head with schoolwork. I've barely had time to be updating my tumblr and whatnot! Plus, I've been running dry on ideas for fanfictions. As promised, here's the second part of Coulson's Team. I'll be updating Into the Light very soon, hopefully this week. Thank you all so much for your patience!**


End file.
